A Frozen Heart
by JustNeedToReview
Summary: It has been nearly a year since Elsa had ascended to the throne of Arendelle and ended her many years of solitude and secrecy. With all the time she has been spending around the castle, it seems she has attracted an unlikely admirer. Related Elsanna. Don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**I'll start with this, this is a related Elsanna story. They are sisters. If that's not your cup of tea, then turn right around.**

 **So, this is the first of a few stories I've written that I felt was finally decent enough to share. That being said, I'm stuck after this first chapter… I wanted to get opinions for where it might go from here or if this is even a half decent first chapter. I plan on continuing this, but I would definitely like some feedback!**

 **EDIT: I reread the first four chapters and edited a few minor things. Just some wording to some parts so nothing eventful changed. No need to go and read anything again if you have read all of it already.**

* * *

Elsa sat in her chair at the head of the table, surrounded by her arguing advisors. She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose as they went on and on about how she needs to find a husband and how it has been long enough since her coronation for her to be ruling alone.

"Enough." She stated authoritatively.

Everyone grew quiet after hearing the sternness of her command and she took this as her que to continue.

"As I have stated before, more times than I would have liked to might I add, I have no interest in finding a husband. I was brought into this position much earlier than would have been ideal and I am still getting a hold on running an entire kingdom. The last thing I want to do now is bring someone else in to this and make it any harder." Elsa finished as she looked around the table at her advisors.

"Your Majesty," One of them began, "with all due respect, it has been far too long to have only you in power. The people need a king beside you- "

"How has the kingdom been doing under my rule?" Elsa asked, cutting the man off. "How many months have we had continued growth? How many of our allies have shown improved support over this last year? How much has the crown gained financially since I took the throne?"

She fired off more and more of these questions, already knowing all the answers but needing to prove her point. Since Elsa had come of age and took her position, the kingdom had been flourishing. Not only in the capitol, but the outlying towns and villages as well. Allies old and new from all around had also been showing increased support for the new Queen. And, on top of all of this, the crowns royal purse had more than doubled. From where she was sitting, the country could not be doing better, even if she were to marry a new king.

She glared at the man, almost daring him to give her an answer other than the ones she knew to be true.

"Your Majesty, I… It has nothing to do with…" He stuttered, trying to come up with a reasonable answer. "Look, all we are saying is that it would do the kingdom well to see you marry into a house to strengthen our standing."

Elsa stood from her chair now. "We have no need to strengthen any standing. Our people are prospering, and our foreign support could not be stronger." She replied as the room started to feel noticeably colder to everyone. "Now I am going to make myself very clear on this one last time. Until there is a need for me to marry for the betterment of the kingdom, I do not want to hear another word on courting a suitor. If any of you have even the slightest problem with that, then I suggest you make yourself familiar with the door before I have any of you removed from this council. Is. That. Clear?"

All the heads around the table nodded silently and the chill seemed to break in the room.

"Good. Now if that is all, I will be on my way. I have had enough of this for the time being." She stated, matter-of-factly, as she walked out of the room with grace and authority, her two servants right behind her.

She walked past the kitchen and heard the cooks beginning to cook dinner and servants grabbing dishes and silverware to set the table for herself and Anna.

"Kai?" She asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Answered the man following just a step behind her.

"How long until dinner is ready?" She asked.

"It should not be long, Your Majesty. Perhaps an hour."

 _That will be plenty of time to stop by the gardens,_ she thought.

"Thank you, Kai. You have been a tremendous help today, as usual." She said kindly. "You can have the rest of the night to yourself, if anyone needs me before dinner, I shall be in the garden."

Kai nodded and expressed a quick thank you as he took his leave for the night.

"You should take the rest of the night as well, Astrid," she said to the girl that had been following them. "I will be quite alright by myself for the remainder of the night."

Astrid had been Elsa's personal servant for almost longer than she could remember. She was a few years younger than Elsa and she had been serving her since they were both children. Mostly there to keep her company when she was younger after her parents separated her from the rest of the castle when her powers had been discovered. They knew Elsa would need a friend and Astrid had already known about what she could do. Despite the magic, Astrid had stuck by Elsa ever since, and Elsa could not be more grateful to have her.

"Are you sure, Your Majesty?" Astrid asked.

"Of course. You work so hard, you deserve a night to yourself." Elsa said with a smile. "Now, off you go."

Astrid thanked her sincerely before taking her leave as well to her chambers for the night.

Elsa walked quietly through the halls of the castle towards the courtyard where she took a now nightly walk. She did not quite remember this garden from before but that hardly surprised her. There are still parts of this castle she did not recognize since she was unable to explore much being locked in her room through her childhood. She had taken quite a liking to it now though and it seemed that perhaps Kai or Gerda had noticed as well, given that more flowers had been planted and the marble structures and statues restored over the last few weeks.

She came to her usual spot and opened the door leading outside. She looked up at the sky as she walked, noticing the beautiful shades of pink it turned as the sun set.

She thought about what had happened in the meeting halls with her advisors. She did not like getting that upset. Especially letting herself set a chill to the room like she did.

 _I must be more in control._ She scolded herself. _I cannot let these powers come to light, it would be a huge setback for Arendelle. Perhaps no one noticed though. Kai had not said anything after all._

Of everyone in the castle, next to no one knew of the Queen's powers. Kai, Gerda, Astrid and herself were the only ones that she could name. Not even Anna knew now, not since the accident when they were kids. She hated hiding this from Anna, but it was better if she did not remember.

She sighed as she continued her walk. Before she knew it, she felt a few snowflakes gently landing on her skin and she smiled. This was the only time she let her powers get away from her. Any time she felt overwhelmed, she would catch herself making it snow. That was something that always put a smile on her face. It reminded her of when she was a kid, before all this magic came into play. The days when she and Anna would go outside at night to build snowmen in the different courtyards.

 _Things were so much simpler back then._ She thought as she absentmindedly trailed a hand over the low wall next to her. She let her mind go, finally, and just enjoyed the flowers and fresh air. She stopped to admire the various beds with all different colors and before she knew it she was back at the door feeling refreshed.

 _I had better head back in, surely dinner will be ready soon._

* * *

Anna was walking through town, shopping with her personal servant Ingrid and the usual tail of her royal guard, when she noticed the sky turning a light shade of pink.

 _Oh no!_ she thought suddenly. _I am going to be late!_

She took off through the streets towards the castle without a word.

"Princess Anna!" Ingrid shouted as she ran after the redhead, the guards close behind. "Where are you going now?" She asked, though this was more to herself than the princess.

Anna merely looked over her shoulder as she ran, not saying a word. She did not have even a second to spare, not if she wanted to make it back on time.

No one was particularly surprised at Anna's antics by now. Her running off had become a regular occurrence lately but no body aside from Anna herself knew why. Not that anyone was going to question the Princess of Arendelle. As far as Ingrid and the guards were concerned, so long as she was not causing any trouble, there was no need. They would simply tail her back to the castle and she would turn up in the dining hall for dinner every night, safe and sound.

The castle gates opened and the guards stood at attention as Anna hurried by with a smile and a wave. She hurried through the main halls and climbed the stairs quickly, making her way into her room. She closed her door behind her and rushed to the window overlooking the castle gardens. Moments later, a door across the courtyard opened and another young woman strolled out. _Right on time!_ she thought with a smile as she watched her sister Elsa, now the Queen, start her nightly walk through the garden.

Over the last year or so, since her coronation, Elsa had been out and around the castle much more than she used to be. No longer hiding in her room behind locked doors. Anna still did not get to see much of her though and while a little was much better than not at all, she still missed her big sister. It had been so long since their parents had separated them that she hardly even remembered the reason why, something about an accident that she also seemingly could not recall.

This nightly routine had become the highlight of Anna's days now. Getting to see her beautiful sister without a care in the world was something she would not pass up. She was always under so much stress and it was nice to see her without any of that pressure.

Anna let her mind wander as she gazed at Elsa making her way through the flowers. Her platinum blonde braid and flowing blue dress swayed ever so slightly in the cool night breeze.

 _She seems to get more and more beautiful every night._ Anna thought in awe.

Sometime shortly after the coronation, Anna had started to develop something of a crush on her sister. She could not explain it and she had long since stopped trying to. Maybe it was because she never got to see her growing up, so she did not quite have that sisterly feeling, but she did not care anymore. The more she saw of her sister now and the more she saw the way she ruled their kingdom, the more infatuated she became. She only kept it a secret because she knew the trouble it would cause if something like that came out. The queen with a woman would be bad enough, but her own sister? That would be a nightmare!

Anna was pulled from her thoughts at the sight of snow gently starting to fall. _That is rather strange,_ she thought. _I know it is already winter, but it should not be cold enough for snow yet._ But there it was. As she stared in shock she noticed something else, it only seemed to be snowing over the gardens. Practically falling from just barely above the rooftops and there was not even a cloud in the sky.

If Elsa had noticed the snow she did not show it. She kept walking, trailing a delicate hand along one of the marble knee-walls and stopping by different beds of flowers. Anna was instantly drawn back into her awe of her sister.

Unfortunately, just as quickly as she had walked into the garden, she had headed back inside, and Anna felt as though she was left alone. She turned around to prepare herself for dinner but came to a sudden halt when she saw Ingrid organizing the clothing and jewelry she had purchased from the shops earlier that day.

"Ingrid!" She yelled in shock, which in turn, also shocked the young girl. "When did you get in here? _How_ did you get in here!?"

"I had knocked but there was no answer," Ingrid began once she regained her composer from the sudden fright. "The door was unlocked so I let myself in. I tried to get your attention, but you must have truly been fixated on something outside." She finished as she continued as she went back to putting away the princess's belongings.

Anna breathed a small sigh of relief. _At least she did not see what I was actually doing…_ she thought. "How long have you been in here?" She then asked.

"Only a few minutes. Is this where you have been running off too lately? Do you just come to your chambers when you disappear like that?" Ingrid asked plainly.

Anna was no stranger to Ingrid being so forward when talking to her. It was actually the main reason Anna had made the girl her personal assistant. She always hated the way the others used titles like 'your majesty' or 'your highness' when speaking with her, it made her feel very uncomfortable and none of them seemed willing to change that. That was until Ingrid came along. Before she had gotten a chance to form that habit, Anna snatched her up and made sure she would be her right-hand girl. She even thought of the two of them more as friends than anything else. Or maybe even a proper sister given how things had been.

This question, however, caught her off guard. She could not say yes or she may never get this time to herself again. She did not have a good cover though. She stood there, opening and closing her mouth as if she was going to answer but no words would come out.

Ingrid just shrugged, "It is fine if you do not want to tell me, Anna," she stated just as plainly as before. "After all, it is none of my business what you do in your free time. I know how much you dislike being followed everywhere all day long so I am more than happy to let you have your secrets." She finished with a friendly smile.

Another sigh of relief left Anna's lungs. "Thank you, Ingrid. I had missed a meeting when we returned so I came in here to get ready for dinner early." She said, still trying to give some sort of cover as to why she was here.

This seemed to be enough for her young assistant as she nodded in acceptance. "What was so interesting outside then? Must have really been something to zone you out like that."

Anna could feel a blush creep to her cheeks. _Not a something,_ she thought, _but a pretty amazing someone._

"Oh, nothing really," She said quickly trying to hide her face. "It started to snow and I simply was not expecting it. I'm going to draw a bath before dinner!" She finished as she hurried into her bathroom.

"If you need anything, I will be right out here." Ingrid called out as the door shut.

 _That was a close one. I really need to be more careful about locking the door. At least she did not press the issue. I'm really glad it was only Ingrid that caught me._

Anna drew her bath and lowered herself into the hot water. She closed her eyes and laid her head back as she relaxed, trying to calm herself and collect her thoughts before seeing her sister at dinner.

* * *

 **Well there it is. No turning back now… I was really hesitant to share this because, as I said, it's the first thing I've ever shared on this site. But I suppose I am anxious for a little feedback. I was toying with bringing in other characters like Rapunzel or Merida like a lot of other authors have done with this pair but I'm not sure how to introduce them.**

 **Anyhow, let me know what you think. Is this a decent start, or should I go back to the drawing board and redo it? If anyone seems to like it, I will definitely continue!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well if you made it to chapter 2 here I suppose you read this, but I'll say it again, this is a related pairing and Elsa and Anna are sisters. I'm sure someone missed that info and I won't let anyone say I didn't warn them.**

 **Thank you to everyone who took some time to review that first chapter for me, they're all super motivational. I would love it if you could leave another review and let me know how I'm doing!**

 **This one is a fair bit shorter than the first chapter and it's a lot of dialogue, but I wanted to put out something after this long. The next chapter will pick up right after this one I think so it should come quicker.**

 **Now, without further ado, Chapter 2!**

 **EDIT: I reread the first four chapters and edited a few minor things. Just some wording to some parts so nothing eventful changed. No need to go and read anything again if you have read all of it already.**

* * *

It was a little after noon as Anna skipped through the halls of the castle, Ingrid and her guards struggling to keep up.

She had been on the move all morning but would not say why or where they were headed. She went by the kitchen, she ran through the dining hall, she poked her head into Elsa's room. To Ingrid's surprise, they even passed through the library. She did not even know Anna knew where the library was, she had not been there in years to Ingrid's knowledge.

"Anna!" Ingrid called as she chased the redheaded princess. "Slow down! Where are we going!?"

"Nowhere in particular," Anna stated plainly as continued through the halls, no sign of slowing down.

"Does she ever lose _any_ energy?" One of the guards asked Ingrid, out of breath.

"How long have you been assigned to her?" Ingrid asked. "You will learn," she finished without waiting for an answer.

"Which way did she go?" Another guard asked as he caught up.

Everyone looked around for a sign of the princess.

Ingrid spoke up after a moment, "It is no use. She lost us. _Again_. No matter, she will turn up if she wants to leave the castle or for dinner as usual." She finished with a small laugh.

* * *

Anna looked behind her as she turned another corner, not seeing any sign of her tail.

"I am losing my touch," she hummed to herself. It had taken her much longer to lose her detail than usual. _Or, they are finally getting in shape,_ she thought with a smirk.

She continued walking with a purpose, admiring the paintings and suits of armor that lined the halls of the castle as she wondered where to look next.

She had just left the throne room and was about to pass a staircase to the upper floors when it came to her. _She has to be in her study!_ Anna thought as she turned and ascended the stairs quickly.

She came to the third floor and hurried down the corridor. As she rounded the corner, sure enough, she saw an excess of guards lining the halls and blocking the doors.

"Ah-ha!" She exclaimed as she made her way to her sister's study.

She was about to reach for the door when one of the guards stepped in front of it. "The Queen has ordered that she not be disturbed in her study." He said sternly.

"Excuse me?" Anna asked, genuinely confused. "You do know who I am, right?"

"Of course, Your Highness," The guard replied. Not moving from his post.

"So you know that I am the Princess of Arendelle?"

"I do. But my orders are from the Queen. _No one_ is to disturb her in her study."

"As the princess I can go where I please." Anna stated, starting to get a little annoyed with the guard. She tried again to reach the handle, but he moved in front of it.

"I demand you move at once." Anna ordered.

Just then the door opened, revealing Elsa's personal guard, General Warrick. The guard that had been stopping her stumbled backwards into the room after suddenly losing some of his support from the door. Anna quickly took her opportunity to slide in after him with General Warrick making no apparent move to stop her.

As she entered the room she looked around, quickly spotting the blonde she had been looking for behind her desk.

"Anna?" Elsa asked, surprise clear on her face.

"Hi sis!" The redhead replied with a smile, her previous irritation gone.

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for you, but your oaf of a guard refused to let me through," Anna replied, not too unkindly. "Did you tell them not to let me in?" She asked with her best fake shock.

The guard in question quickly got back to his feet and stood at attention in front of the Queen.

"My apologies, Your Majesty," He began with a bow. "You told us you were not to be disturbed in your study. By anyone. I was only following orders but she would not oblige."

"It is quite alright," Elsa responded kindly. "You had orders and I did not specify the Princess. I was never expecting a visit from her, so I thought nothing of it. For the future, though, Princess Anna is more than welcome to come and go as she pleases." She finished with a smile.

The guard nodded acknowledgement. "Of course, Your Majesty." He said with another bow.

Elsa turned to the captain, "General Warrick, would you and your men be so kind as to give us the room?" She asked him.

"Right away, my Queen," he replied as he ushered his guards back into the hall, closing the door to the study behind him.

Elsa turned and gave her sister a hug. "What a lovely surprise," she said with a smile. "I was not expecting you."

"Clearly," Anna joked as she returned the hug.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Elsa asked as she made her way back to the desk.

Anna did not answer right away. Instead, she simply looked around the study, taking in all the large book cases and paintings and furniture. To be honest, she had not actually had a real reason for coming here.

"It has been years since I was last in here," she said after a few moments of silence. "It is rather strange not seeing Father's desk or him working."

Elsa nodded in agreement. "It took quite some time to get used to working in here by myself after my coronation. I thought about moving to a different room but that did not feel right." She said.

"Yeah, you cannot just move the Royal Study," Anna said simply. She walked over to one of the many bookshelves and ran a hand along one of the shelfs, absentmindedly looking over the many leather-bound books that lined it.

"It is a tradition of sorts I suppose," Elsa agreed. "Now, are you going to answer my question?" She asked with a raised brow and smile.

"Nope," Anna replied with smile. She was now in front of one of the paintings on the wall, studying it. It appeared to be a tower, much like the ones in their own castle, but it stood alone in a clearing surrounded by trees, a long golden rope draped from the top window. "I do not remember this painting," she said finally.

Elsa shook her head and chuckled a little. "Of course you will not give me an answer." She stood up to join her sister, "I would be more surprised if you did recognize it. It is a recent gift from our family in Corona."

"Rapunzel?"

"Yes. She sent it as a gift for my coronation, but it only recently arrived. She painted it herself."

"Huh," the redhead hummed, "is that so?"

She turned again and made her way to Elsa's desk. She leaned on her elbows on it looking over the many documents strewn across it. "What is all of this?" she asked without looking up, trying to make some sense of what was in front of her.

"Oh so I have to tell you what I am doing but you can just come and distract me without any explanation?" The blonde quipped.

"Pretty much," Anna smiled.

Elsa sat back down with a chuckle. "I see. I was just going over some orders for the castle and trade proposals from our lovely neighboring kingdoms." She answered with mild annoyance.

"What, not any fun?" Anna joked.

"None at all," Elsa groaned. "The forms for the castle are simple enough but negotiating trade agreements and treaties is dreadfully boring."

"Yeah, this is definitely the one thing I am not jealous of you for." Anna said without thinking.

Elsa looked at her with another raised brow. "And what _are_ you jealous of, exactly?" She asked.

"Where should I start?" Anna exclaimed. "First of all, you are _The Queen_ of Arendelle! You have the whole kingdom at your fingertips. Everyone loves you too! All the servants, the citizens, other royals. You are really smart and handle yourself so well. Not to mention you are drop-dead gorgeous and every prince absolutely drools over you. You could have anyone you wanted in the blink of an eye!"

 _Where did that come from?_ Anna thought suddenly as she finished. She could feel a small heat spread across he cheeks as she blushed. _Maybe she won't think anything of it._

"Oh Anna. You are making that up," Elsa said with a blush.

"I am not. You are practically perfect." She responded without thinking.

"Hardly," the Queen replied. "But thank you. That means a lot coming from you."

Anna just smiled at her as she leaned on the desk again.

After a few moments of silence, Elsa spoke again, "You still have not told me why you are here."

"A girl cannot just come see her big sister?" Anna asked with almost sarcastically.

"A girl could but I do not feel like _you_ would." Elsa retorted.

"Well, if you must know," Anna began, "I am not actually sure. I was just walking around this morning with nothing to do and thought I would pay you a visit. So, actually, I did just come to see my big sister!" she finished with an almost I-told-you-so smile.

"Really?" Elsa asked in mild disbelief.

"Yep!" Anna replied. "I never get to see you anymore." She added, the smile disappearing from her face.

Elsa always felt heartbroken seeing her sister so sad. Even after all the years she had kept herself locked away in her room, it was just as hard as the first time she asked her to leave her alone. It never got easier. Even this small frown made her feel incredibly guilty.

Anna continued, not really looking for a response. "I know that you are busy and everything now, you do have an entire kingdom to run now after all," she said with a small chuckle. "But even before all of this. It has been years since we have spent any quality time together. It has been so long that I do not even remember why mother and father separated us. The only people that I think have any idea are Kai and Gerda, and neither of them will ever tell me. Just something about an accident."

Anna fell silent for a moment. "I guess I just miss my big sister…" She trailed off.

After a few more moments of silence she stood up and shook her head a little. "I am sorry, I do not know where that came from." She said, putting her usual smile back on her face.

Elsa blinked back a tear. She had no idea this was how Anna had felt. She knew she was obviously not happy about the whole thing, but she did not know she was this sad.

"I am so sorry, Anna. For all of this." She said as she stood and embraced the redhead.

"Please do not worry, really." She said as she returned the hug. "I am overreacting. It is not like I could blame you for anything. None of it is or was your fault. Besides, we will have plenty of time to make up for all that was lost in the future!"

"Starting tonight!" Elsa exclaimed.

"Tonight?" Anna repeated confused again.

"Sure! Before dinner, I always go for a walk through the garden in the northern courtyard. Would you join me?"

Anna lit up at the invitation. "I would love to!" She yelled in response before quickly clasping a hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "Sorry," she added shyly, "didn't mean to yell."

Elsa giggled at her reaction. "It is quite alright. How does 5:30 this evening sound?"

"Perfect!"

"Good. Now you run along so I can finish this work and make it there on time myself," Elsa said sweetly.

"Of course, _Your Majesty,"_ Anna said jokingly.

"You can be really annoying sometimes, you know that?" Elsa joked back.

"But you love me anyway!" Anna exclaimed before panting a small kiss on her sister's cheek and running for the door. "I will see you tonight!" she called out as she closed the door behind her.

Elsa laughed to herself as she picked through the paper's in front of her again.

 _That was a wonderful break._ She thought.

* * *

 **So, I guess I don't know how to feel about this chapter. I feel like the first one was waaayyyy better and I restarted this one so many times. Like I said, it was a lot of dialogue so I'm sorry.**

 **I also wanted to put a little warning out here. I don't really have a clue where I plan to take this story so at some point it may just come to an abrupt end. Being my very first story and one that I kind of started on a whim at two in the morning, my planning and outlining were nonexistent. If that time comes though I will definitely be starting a new one with a better plan and idea of what I'm doing.**

 **That being said, please let me know what you guys think! And I'm open for suggestions for this or other stories if you feel like sharing an idea or plot for me to try and write about. It'd probably help my process.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the usual, related Elsanna. Don't like it? Don't read.**

 **Now, like I said this is going to pick up right after the last chapter. Anna just left Elsa's study and she… you know what? You read chapter 2. You know what's up. Here's chapter 3.**

 **EDIT: I reread the first four chapters and edited a few minor things. Just some wording to some parts so nothing eventful changed. No need to go and read anything again if you have read all of it already.**

* * *

Anna closed the door to Elsa's study and turned to run down the hall. Before she could make it more than a step, she crashed into a suit of armor, sending her and the man in the suit to the floor.

"I am so sorry!" she blurted out quickly. "I was in a hurry and was not paying attention to where I was going. Not that that is an excuse because I should always be paying attention to what is in front of me. It is not very princess-like to be knocking people over and-"

"There is no need for an apology, Your Highness," The man said, cutting her off. He got to his feet and offered her his hand to help her up. It was the same guard that had blocked the door before.

"If not for knocking you over, then at least for being so rude before." She said as she took his hand and stood. "You were only following the Queen's orders and I can hardly fault you for that."

"I should not have defied the Princess," the guard said as he bowed to Anna. "Please forgive my actions."

"Please stand. The bowing and kneeling always makes me uncomfortable." Anna said with a small smile. "There is nothing to forgive. If anything, I commend your loyalty to the Queen's commands."

"Thank you, Your Highness. It will not happen again." The guard reassured her as he got to his feet once more.

"Now if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to!" Anna stated excitedly as she turned back down the hallway and took off for the stairs.

 _I can hardly believe I finally get to spend time with Elsa again!_ She thought as she made her way to the kitchens. _I only have a few hours to get everything ready for our date!_

She stopped suddenly, surprised at her own thought. _It is not a date!_ She reminded herself. _Elsa is just taking a walk with her sister. It is just a little walk before dinner._

She continued to repeat that to herself over and over as she started walking again. It was not a date. She had gone to see her sister and she was invited to join her for a walk. Nonetheless, Anna could not help but feel she was, in fact, getting ready for a first date. She had butterflies in her stomach and she was incredibly excited.

 _Either way, I have to get ready. The dress I have on now simply will not do. Even if just for a walk with my sister._

"But first, chocolate," She whispered to herself as she came to the doors leading to the kitchens.

It was still early in the day, so it was rather quiet. Most of the chefs were gone after lunch since nothing needed to be done for a few hours until dinner was to be started. Only a few of the servants were there, cleaning silverware and plates and getting cookware ready for when the chefs did return to begin preparing.

Anna quietly slipped through the doors and snuck her way behind some of the large ovens along one wall. She knew no one would say anything if she walked straight through to the pantry, but she liked to try to remain unseen. From the ovens, she ducked behind a large sink and wash rack and finally crossed to the pantry. Once inside she grabbed a small box and filled it with various sweets from the shelves, mostly chocolates and a few chocolate pastries, for her and Elsa later.

She went out the same way she had gotten in without being noticed. She was double checking her box when she heard someone call her name.

"Anna! There you are." Ingrid yelled, making the redhead jump. "Where did you run off to?"

"I ended up wandering to Elsa's study and stopped to talk to her for a while," She explained simply as the girl caught up to her and joined her as she walked.

"Oh," Ingrid hummed. "Guess it makes sense for you to turn back up with chocolates!" She joked.

"You know my sweet tooth," Anna replied with a chuckle. "Oh! Ingrid!" She exclaimed suddenly, her turn to make the other girl jump. "Sorry, did not mean to yell. Where did you put that dresses I bought when we were in town the other day?"

"The dresses you bought before you ran off and made us carry everything back?" Ingrid teased.

"Yes, _those_ dresses." The redhead responded. "Particularly the black and blue one. It had gold patterns in the dress and the gold trim along the black top. Light blue sleeves."

"I had all of them taken to the tailor to be hemmed for you." Ingrid informed her. "They should be done by now, I could go get them for you if you would like."

"Would you please? I wanted to wear that one tonight," Anna asked sweetly.

"Got something special to wear it for?" Ingrid asked. "Or some _one_?"

Anna could feel herself blush almost instantly. "What? No, of course not. I… would just like to wear that dress." She replied lamely.

"Really? There is no reason that you want me to go get a new dress on a moments notice? Just for yourself?"

"Yes. It is not for a date or anything." Anna replied quickly. "Just bring it to my chambers as soon as possible."

Ingrid knew better than to pry or tease too much, so she nodded to the princess' command. "Right away, Anna," she said with a smile as she turned down one of the halls to their right. "There is definitely another reason for this," she added quietly to herself.

"What was that?" Anna called to her.

"Nothing," Ingrid replied. "Just, uh, trying to remember which seamstress I gave them to."

"Oh, alright. Thank you, Ingrid," she said as she continued to make her way to her room.

* * *

It was only a little past two o'clock when Anna got back to her room. She set the box of chocolates on her dresser and sat in front of her mirror.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" She asked herself as she let her hair out of its bun. She thought it was too formal in the bun and didn't want to leave it like that when she went to meet Elsa.

She began to brush it as she thought about what to do. She did not like to leave it down, so that was out of the question and the bun was already out too since she just let it down.

She was lost in thought when the door to her room opened and Ingrid strolled in with her dresses.

"Oh, Anna, you are in here," the blonde said as she walked over to Anna's closet. "Why do you not answer when I knock anymore? One of these days I am going to walk in on something neither of us want me seeing," she said with a laugh.

"Sorry, Ingrid," Anna replied as she continued to brush her hair. "I did not hear you. I guess I have just been distracted."

"I can definitely tell," Ingrid retorted as she began to hang the dresses. "Any reason in particular?"

"Not really," Anna replied. "It has just been… a strange few weeks for me."

"Obviously. What are you not telling me?" Ingrid inquired.

Anna stopped what she was doing, Ingrid's question catching her off guard. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I know you have been acting strange for a little while now. I just cannot figure out why."

"I have not been acting strange!" Anna shot back.

"Oh really?" Ingrid quipped. "More than once I have caught you mindlessly staring out your window. And you have been running off more and more."

"I just…" Anna trailed off. "You guys have been keeping up with me too well. I've been working on losing you better. You know I hate being babysat."

"If you say so," the young blonde stated, a hint of disbelief in her voice. "You know I will find out whatever it is eventually."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Ingrid. I am not hiding anything!" Anna said as convincingly as she could, a slight blush betraying her words.

"If you insist," Ingrid finally gave in.

"Did you bring the dress I wanted?" She asked trying to change the subject.

"If you wish to keep it a secret, I will accept your choice. And yes, I have it right here," Ingrid said with a smile, holding out a bagged dress out to the Princess.

Just as Anna was about to grab it, she pulled it back. "But," the girl began. "If you do decide to share what this is all about with anyone, it better be me." She joked.

"You would be the first and only one to know," Anna assured her. _If I decide to tell anyone at all._

"Good!" Ingrid exclaimed proudly. "Now let me help you change."

"There is really no need-"

"Oh yes there is. We both know you have a hard-enough time with tying up normal dresses by yourself. It will be easier for everyone." Ingrid stated, matter-of-factly.

Anna simply nodded in agreement. She knew the other girl was right, so why argue? She hoped that doing so would get her to drop the idea of Anna hiding something. She did not want anyone prying and finding out her real secret.

As she went back to brushing her hair, Ingrid pulled out the new dress and undid the ties before hanging it up beside them. Next, she undid Anna's current dress so she could take it off.

For as often as this happens, Anna thought she would get used to Ingrid helping her with her dresses. This was definitely not the case though, as she stood in her undergarments blushing and trying to keep herself somewhat covered.

"Will you stop that," Ingrid said as the redhead fidgeted in front of her. "It is not like we have not done this almost every day."

"I just do not like being so… exposed," Anna replied. "Can you hurry?"

Ingrid grabbed the new dress quickly and Anna stepped into it. She pulled it up and slid her arms through the sleeves. Ingrid then began to fasten the back and before they knew it they were done.

"There we go!" Ingrid said as she stepped back to admire the Princess. "Not too bad. I'm sure your date will love it!"

"Not a date." Anna shot back again. "I am, uh, actually just going to spend some time with Elsa tonight. Would you mind helping me braid my hair? I hate dong it myself." She asked shyly.

"Oh, so why the extravagant new dress?" She inquired.

"I just, um, I am just tired of my old wardrobe," she said, almost making it a question of if it were a valid excuse. "Now, could you please help me with my hair?"

"Of course, that is what I am here for after all. Take a seat."

The two were quiet as Ingrid braided Anna's hair into two pigtails. Soon enough she was ready to go.

"Anything else you might need?" Ingrid asked as Anna looked herself over in the mirror.

"No that should be all, Ingrid. You should take the rest of the night off," She suggested.

"It is only five o'clock, are you sure you will not need me?"

"Five!?" Anna yelled. "I am almost late! I am sure, though. You have a nice night, Ingrid," Anna called as she grabbed the box of chocolates and hurried out the door.

Ingrid was left standing alone in Anna's room.

"She is definitely hiding something…" she mused. "But what on Earth could it be?"

* * *

Elsa had finally signed the last document on her desk. She folded the paper and pressed her seal onto it before placing it in the stack with the others to be sent back their respective kingdoms.

She sat back in her chair with an exasperated sigh. "Finally done," she huffed as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

 _I cannot believe paperwork takes this long,_ she thought.

A knock on her door pulled her back from her rest. "Come in," she called.

The door opened, and Astrid entered. "Ah, Your Majesty, you are still here," she said, a bit of surprise in her voice.

"Why would I not be?" Elsa asked with a small laugh. "It is my study."

"Well, you do not normally stay in here past five," Astrid replied as she made her way to the desk.

"Paperwork took longer than I anticipated. Wanted to get it all out of the way before dinner," Elsa said as she stood. "What can I do for you, Astrid?"

"Kai asked me to retrieve the papers you needed sent out so he-"

"Did you say after five?" Elsa asked suddenly, the other girl's word finally occurring to her.

"Almost five thirty, yes," Astrid replied.

"I am almost late! The papers are in that stack there." She pointed to the stack at the corner of the desk. "You can handle it!" She finished as she ran for the door.

"Late for what?" Astrid called after her. It was too late though, Elsa was already well out the door. "What was that all about?" she asked the now empty room.

Elsa hurried out of her study and past her guards without a word. They began to chase after her but General Warrick stopped them.

"No need to hurry gentlemen, she is only going to the gardens. We will catch up." He stated since he was the only one that knew where she was going. "She must be half way there anyhow."

He was not wrong, Elsa was already down the stairs to the main floor and nearly through the main hall. _I cannot be late for Anna, she would be so upset with me._

As she ran around the last corner she came crashing into someone and they both fell to the floor.

She sat up quickly, "I am so sorry! I was not paying attention and I am in a hurry-"

"No need to worry, sis!" she was cut off.

"Anna?" Elsa said, surprised.

"Why the rush?" The redhead asked with a smile as she got to her feet and offered her hand to her sister.

Elsa took the slender hand in front of her and let herself be helped up. "I was running late for our walk and I did not want to keep you waiting," she replied.

"So was I!" Anna exclaimed. "I went to change and braid my hair before and only left my room a few minutes ago and when got to the courtyard you were not there so I thought I missed you or you were not there yet, so I thought I would go and check your study to see if you were still there. But looks like I found my answer!"

"How can you talk so fast without losing your breath?" Elsa asked with a laugh.

"I dunno. Practice I guess," Anna said simply. "So, shall we get going then? I mean, if you still want to…"

Elsa wrapped her arm through Anna's and gave her a sweet smile. "Of course I do!" she said as she began to lead them back to the courtyard. "Why do you think I was running so quickly?"

Anna could not keep a big smile from covering her face. "Good point," she hummed. "Lead the way!"

They walked, in silence, back to the doors to the garden. At first, Elsa felt a bit awkward, but the feeling quickly passed. Anna seemed more than content staying quiet for the moment, which was rather out of character for her, and it put Elsa more at ease. It was nice to focus on something other than her work, and even if they just walked in silence Elsa appreciated the company.

Finally, though, Elsa broke the silence. "Why did you change your dress?" She asked. "Did something happen to the other one?"

"Nope," Anna replied quickly. "It just was not suitable for an audience with the Queen," she said, only sort of joking.

The blonde let out a small giggle. "Oh please, it was fine."

"Exactly, it was _fine_ but this one is much nicer." Anna retorted with a smile.

"Well I have to admit I agree. You look beautiful."

Anna tried to fight the slight blush that filled her cheeks at the compliment. "Thanks," she replied shyly. "Guess it runs in the family."

Elsa laughed again. "Yeah, we got lucky."

They finally reached the door that lead outside to the courtyard and Elsa opened it for them.

"It is snowing!" Anna noted excitedly as she looked around.

That was when Elsa noticed she was channeling her powers again. Without realizing it, she must have made it snow on their walk through the castle.

 _I must be more careful!_ She scolded herself. _She obviously will not link the snow to me but now she will probably want to stay inside._

"Sorry, Anna. I guess we can come do this some other night when the snow clears," she apologized.

"Sorry for what? You might be _the Queen,_ but I know you cannot control the weather," she said sweetly. "The garden is prettier with a little snow anyway."

 _Maybe not all the weather, but I can control snow,_ the blonde thought. "Will you not be cold though? That dress does not seem terribly warm."

"Actually, I feel quite comfortable," Anna stated as she let go of Elsa's arm and walked out into lightly falling snow.

It was only then that Elsa noticed the box Anna had been holding. "What is that?" She asked as she followed her out into the garden.

"What is what? Oh this!" she yelled as she held up the box. "I brought us some chocolates before dinner!" She exclaimed with a mischievous smile.

Elsa lit up at the mention of chocolate and she snatched the box from Anna's hands.

"Hey! Rude!" Anna called out. "You have to share!"

Elsa already tore off the lid and was trying to decide which piece to eat first. "Where did you get these?" She asked, ignoring Anna's previous comments.

"I snuck into the kitchen after I saw you and stole them!" Anna replied proudly.

Elsa could not help but laugh again as she ate a piece. "You know you do not have to steal from the kitchens, right? No one is going to deny the Princess."

"Well _yeah,_ but there is no fun in that! Remember when we used to do that as kids when we were not allowed to have dessert?"

"I am surprised we were never caught! Gerda saw us leaving once and must have seen the small mess we left, but I do not think she told anyone."

While Elsa was reminiscing, Anna finally grabbed the box back. "It is not too surprising now that I see how unaware they are in there! Not a single person ever acted as though they heard or saw a thing," she laughed as she grabbed a few pieces for herself and handed the box back to her sister. "I better take a few before you eat them all!"

"I always had to eat mine quickly because you always ate yours before we could sneak back to my room!" Elsa said.

"It is not my fault I have such a sweet tooth!"

The two continued walking in the snow, seemingly unaware of it or the cold around them. They laughed and joked as if this were a regular thing for them.

Finally, they sat on one of the covered benches at the far end of the garden.

"I missed things like this," Anna said as she wrapped her arm back through Elsa's.

"So have I," She said happily. "It has been so long since I have had time like this to relax. And even longer since we have spent any time together."

"It did not have to be…" Anna said trailing off as she did earlier, sadness appearing in her voice.

After a few moments of silence, she spoke again, "Why did we spend so long apart?"

Elsa blinked back a tear at the hurt sound in Anna's voice. "Our parents thought it was best…" She answered lamely. "After the accident, they thought it was better for us to stay apart…"

"I cannot even remember anything about that… I remember playing outside with you one day and the next they closed the gates and kept me on the other side of the castle. And nobody has ever told me why except that it was because of some accident I have no memory of!"

Elsa could not quite place the feelings in Anna's voice. She sounded sad, hurt, confused, angry. It nearly brought her to tears.

Elsa knew the reason they were separated very well but she could not tell Anna without revealing her powers. She did not feel either of them were ready for that though.

"I cannot remember much either," she lied. "I remember you getting hurt one day and it was something I did but it was so long ago. I was too young to remember it now…"

"Why did it last when we were older?" Anna asked, frustration beginning to take over. "Even after they disappeared, why did you push me away…"

Elsa did not know what to say. She was not ready for any of this and she felt bad enough about it without being questioned. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She sat in silence as she tried to gather her thoughts.

She felt Anna hug her arm a little tighter and she rested her head on Elsa's shoulder. "Will you please say something?" she asked in a small voice.

"I… I did not know how to handle losing them. I felt like we had to continue as we were because it was what they wanted us to do… that it would make it easier if things got worse… I should have never put us through that."

"It would have been easier together," The redhead replied, still holding tight to her sister.

"I know that now, and I could not be any more sorry."

"There will be plenty of time to make up for that now though, right?" Anna muttered into her arm.

Elsa smiled and wrapped her other arm around her sister in a hug. "Yes there will be," she whispered.

She took a quick look around and noticed that the snow had turned to a slush and had frozen over in some spots. She knew her emotional state had something to do with that. From where Anna was sitting, Elsa was pretty sure she had not noticed yet.

 _What harm could a little more magic do?_ She thought. _Anna always loved the snow anyway._

She hesitated only a second more before standing between the courtyard and her sister to block the sight. With one small wave of her hand, the slush and ice disappeared. In its place once again was the light fluffy snow they had walked into not long before and the large flakes were again falling to the ground gently.

She held out her hand to her sister. "We should get back inside," she said with a heartfelt smile. "Dinner should be ready by now."

Anna took her hand and stood, a smile once again creeping to her face. "Thank you for this," she said. "And I am sorry for springing it all on you. It all just built up and I kind of cracked. I needed to talk though."

"You have no need to apologize, this is all my fault." Elsa replied as they began to walk back across the courtyard to go inside. "But I promise I will do all I can to make up for it. Starting with making sure my guards never keep you away from me again!"

"So I can visit you whenever I want!?" Anna asked excitedly.

"Of course you can," Elsa replied.

At that, Anna was seemingly back to her cheerful and happy self. As the two walked arm in arm back through garden she gazed at the snow covered statues and smiled as the snow continued to fall around them.

Elsa could not help the smile on her face. _I have to make this up to her._ She thought. _It is the very least I can do. She deserves it._

* * *

 **Hopefully you all enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's much longer than the first two chapters but it just flowed for me. This is why chapter two was cut short as well.**

 **As always, let me know what you think and leave a review! There's definitely more to come!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Before I get started, I'd really like to thank anyone who has read my story up to this point. Just seeing the views climb on each chapter and the follows that come up from time to time has been an awesome thing for me! I'd also like to thank anyone that has left a review even more. Big or small, they really help me get a feel for what people are thinking and if I'm going in the right direction.**

 **Also want to apologize for how long it took me to update this. I had gotten stuck then had my final exams then graduation then once I had mostly finished it I had gotten really sick. But after all of that it is finally here!**

 **Now, you guys have made it to Chapter 4 so I'm going to stop with the normal disclaimer. You all know what you've gotten into.**

 **With that way-too-long authors note out of the way, please enjoy Chapter 4!**

 **EDIT: I reread the first four chapters and edited a few minor things. Just some wording to some parts so nothing eventful changed. No need to go and read anything again if you have read all of it already.**

* * *

Anna woke up the next morning at the first sign of light, thoughts of last night still running through her head. She almost could not believe it. Elsa was finally willing to spend time with her, and she was all too eager to take advantage of the promise her sister had made.

She got out of bed and quickly made her way to her bathroom for a morning bath. Hot water filled the tub as Anna disrobed and slipped in, her head coming to rest on the edge of the tub as she closed her eyes and let the sensation of the warm water envelope her.

 _I wonder if she actually meant everything she said._ She began to wonder. _Does she actually want to make up for the time we lost? I hope I do not mess this up… I just need to keep my strange feelings in check._

She shook the troubling thoughts out of her head. Now was not the time for something like that. She was going to spend her first day with her sister and nothing was going to take away from that.

She slid further into the water, wetting and washing her hair before getting out and drying herself off. Next, she braided her hair like usual and found a new simple dress from her closet. She looked herself over in the mirror before she left.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed.

It was only nine in the morning so she thought she would go get breakfast before heading to Elsa's study for the day. She crossed her room and opened the door eagerly, coming face to face with a shocked Ingrid.

"Anna!" Ingrid stammered in surprise. "You are already awake."

"Should I not be?" Anna asked.

"Oh no, you just never get up this early is all. It is not even ten, and you arrived at your room late last night."

"The light woke me up early I guess. I could not fall asleep again so I decided to get an early start. I was just about to go and have breakfast." Anna explained.

"Oh. Well alright then."

"Would you care to join me?"

"Am I allowed to? I thought all the servants had to stay out of the main dining room." Ingrid replied.

"What? Is that a rule?" Anna asked, mildly surprised. "Well no matter, only the queen can tell the princess no," she added matter-of-factly, "and Elsa would not say no to me."

She knew arguing with the most stubborn of the royal family was futile, so Ingrid agreed and followed the redhead through the castle.

The two walked in silence until Ingrid finally piped up. "So," she began casually, "what did you and the Queen do last night? You said you were meeting her, but never mentioned why."

"We just went for a walk in the north courtyard. We have not spent much time together over the last few years and when I stopped by her study earlier in the morning she had asked if I would join her."

"Oh," Ingrid said, unsure of how to respond.

Anna did not seem to notice her distress though, carrying on as if the girl had said nothing at all. "It was nice to spend time with her," she said with a bright smile, "even if it did snow on us."

"Snow?" Ingrid questioned. "It did not snow last night."

"What do you mean? By the time we came back inside there had to be nearly four inches on the ground." Anna stated with a puzzled look. "Did no one else see it?"

"I have no idea what you mean. After you left I went to help some of the other servants around the castle, and I did not see a single flake anywhere. I was in and out all over the grounds."

"Hmm…" Anna hummed. That was indeed strange and Anna had no idea what to make of it. She was sure she and Elsa had spent nearly an hour out in the snow yesterday evening.

 _Had that part been a dream?_ She wondered. _Did any of that actually happen? Did I actually have that talk with Elsa last night?_

She began to worry that none of that had happened, that she was about to intrude on Elsa's day against her sisters wishes and potentially damage their already fragile relationship.

 _No! Of course it happened._ she thought confidently, pushing those thoughts out. _I am still going to see her later!_ She decided adamantly. Maybe she was a little crazy for imagining the snow, but she knew last night had not been some sort of dream. She would have to ask Elsa about it later.

"Maybe I was imagining things," she finally remarked after realizing how quiet it had gotten in the empty hall.

"You do have quite the imagination," Ingrid replied, narrowing her eyes in thought. "How strange though."

"Yes…" Anna said, now as confused as Ingrid was. "Very."

* * *

After breakfast, Anna gave Ingrid a list of things to do for the day. Nothing terribly important; picking up a piece of jewelry she was having repaired in town, gathering the rest of the dresses that had been altered, and a few other simple errands. As much as she loved Ingrid, she wanted to keep her busy so that she would not follow Anna to Elsa's study. She knew that the girl would not accept a second day off in a row, so she made up this list of things she "needed" done.

 _I suppose I could have just told her Elsa and I would not need all the extra hands. I am sure there will be plenty of servants at her call already._ Anna thought as she strolled through the halls towards Elsa's study. _No matter, those things need to get done eventually and it is better she goes into town now before winter really hits and some real snow shows up._

As she climbed one of the many staircases, her mind trailed back to what Ingrid had said about the snow last night. How could it be that there were nearly four inches of snow in the courtyard and nothing anywhere else in the castle? She knew she had seen it, and she had definitely felt it.

 _I know what I saw... Elsa saw it too! She even suggested we go in._ Anna thought, trying to convince herself.

Her thoughts were cut short by the sound of shuffling armor. Looking up, she realized she was nearly at the Royal Study. The sounds of Elsa's guards standing at attention echoed through the hall as she approached. When she made it to the door, the same guard that had tried to stop her the day before greeted her kindly.

"Princess Anna," he said with a bow. "I would like to apologize again for my actions yesterday."

"It was a simple misunderstanding. As I said before, you were only following orders and I cannot fault you for that." Anna stated kindly. "Is my sister here?"

"Thank you, your highness," the guard said as he stood at attention once more. "The Queen should be expecting you," he added.

"Really?" she asked dumbly.

The guard gave no answer. Instead, he simply opened the door and bowed again as he gestured for her to enter.

"What now?" asked Elsa irritated, not bothering to looking up.

"Good morning to you too, sis." Anna replied sarcastically.

Elsa's head shot up from her work. "Anna! I thought you were another one of my advisors!" she began to explain. "I did not think I would see you this early. From what I understand, you usually do not even have breakfast for another hour." She finished with a laugh.

"Normally," Anna replied. "I left my drapes open though and woke up with the sunrise."

"Well, either way, I am happy to see you. I was just hoping it would be later so I could get some of this work done before you arrived. You are more than welcome to stay though." she said with a small smile.

"I figured you would be busy," Anna stated as she began to peruse the many bookcases along the wall, "I will keep quiet and out of the way. Maybe find a book. You will not even know I am here!" She added.

"I doubt you will find anything good in here. As far as I can tell, they are all ledgers and useless notes. Nothing that interesting," Elsa said as she turned back to her work, pen in hand.

For the most part, it seemed Elsa was right. She came across old ledgers, notes on other kingdoms, past trade agreements, and a few books of old laws. Perhaps to the right person these would be interesting reads, but for Anna they could not be any more boring.

She continued from one shelf too the next, hoping she would not have to run to the main library for something. As she turned past the second to last shelf, she found a number of older, leather-bound, books with no titles or markings. She grabbed one from the shelf, opened it to the first page, and began to skim over the handwritten text.

 _It looks like a diary._ She thought as she read.

Turning further into the book, she discovered it was, in fact, nearly that.

As she read more, Anna finally pieced it together. _It is a journal from father. It looks like his notes on being groomed as a prince!_

There were pages of notes detailing proper etiquette and rules for nobles to follow, things to remember about the kingdom, and remarks about how his father, her grandfather, was ruling.

Anna grabbed another and scanned through some of the middle pages. Then another and another. All of them appeared to be nearly the same thing; notes and stories from her father as he grew up and took responsibility of the kingdom.

 _These are incredible! He took notes nearly his whole life._

Just then a thought struck her.

"That's it!" she yelled aloud.

Behind her, she heard the rustling of papers and something falling to the floor. Spinning around, she saw several papers fluttering to the ground and a thick book lying on the carpet.

"Anna!" Elsa gasped. "What was that? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Instead of answering, she grabbed one of the books from the stack on the shelf and ran to her sister's desk.

"These books in the back were written by father!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Notes about how grandfather ruled and rules he had to follow as prince and king and all about how he wanted to rule the kingdom one day!"

"What?" Elsa asked dumbly as she took the book from Anna and skimmed through some of the pages.

"It looks like his whole life. There is a whole shelf of them near the back."

"Wow…" Elsa whispered. "This looks amazing."

"I cannot wait to read some of them! There is so much I want to know!"

"I wish I had the time to as well." replied Elsa.

"Oh, that is right. I will let you get back to your work. Sorry about that." Anna said as she scooped the book back up.

She ran back to the shelf with the others, her new idea still fresh in her mind. _If these go back this far, he must have more recent ones. Some with the two of us! Maybe I can find something about the accident!_

Knowing her parents had disappeared when they were still young, it should be in one of the more recent books. She looked to the end of the row, where the leather bindings looked less worn, and grabbed the last few books, bringing them with her to a set of chairs across from Elsa. Setting the books on the table next to her, Anna grabbed the first and began to read.

This one appeared to begin shortly after he met their mother, and Anna was immediately drawn in. Hours began to fly by as she read about how her parents had met, royal balls they had attended while he courted her, and finally winning her hand in marriage. It continued into their early years together and ended just after the crown was passed onto him.

Anna reached the end and closed the first book, eager to read more about her parent's life. Her father's accounts were incredibly detailed and it almost felt as if she were looking through a window to the past and reliving what he had gone through.

"Elsa," she called as she grabbed the second book, "you must read these when you get a chance! They are wonderful!"

Elsa looked up from her work. "What is in that one?" she asked, standing up and walking to where Anna sat.

"I was just about to start this one, but that one," she said, pointing to the book she had just set down, "is about how Mother and Father met." Anna replied.

"What did he write about?"

"All about how he planned to woo her and accounts of festivals and balls they attended. It ends just after their wedding. I cannot wait to keep reading them!"

"I wonder if he wrote about the kingdom in any of the others." Elsa mused. "I sure could use a pointer or two. But that will have to wait. I need to go to a meeting with my advisors," she added unenthusiastically. "Would you care to join me?"

"I would love to," Anna chirped. She stood with the blonde and they began to walk towards the door. "Can I come back and get these books later? I want to keep reading them."

"Absolutely," the blonde answered quickly. "You can have all of them brought to you if you would like." She added as they left the study and locked the door behind them.

* * *

"How can you deal with those people?" Anna huffed as she opened the door leading out and into the garden. "That was a mad house!"

Anna could not believe the amount of arguing and general nonsense that had taken place in the meeting they had just left. It had started out fine, beginning with a civil discussion over a few basic tasks to prepare for the coming winter. Anna had never seen this side of ruling over the castle and she had actually found it kind of interesting. Just as they were about to get up and leave, however, it had taken a sharp turn. One of the advisors had brought up Elsa marrying another royal, and her refusal to do so in the near future had made everyone erupt into shouting. Some defending the queen's choice, while others were firmly against it.

"I would not have been able to keep my calm like you did with all that yelling and arguing about you getting married!" She went on.

"All things considered, it went much better than it usually does." Elsa remarked dryly. "It took them nearly an hour to begin arguing about it this time."

"It usually goes worse?!" Anna asked in shock. "Add that as the second thing I am not jealous of you for."

Elsa simply laughed at her sister's grumbling. She had grown so used to that madness that she forgot how irritating it used to be. Now she simply let them argue for a while, before slightly chilling the room and ordering them out, which she had done today.

"Thankfully they all left when that draft came through and cooled everything down."

"Now you can see why I come here every night," she said as the two continued walking. "It is nice and quiet, and I can clear my head. Having you there made it far more bearable though."

She could not put her finger on why, but Anna's presence had made the usually dreadful meeting a whole lot better. She had hardly uttered a word, yet she had made the situation much less stressful for Elsa.

"If you get any bright ideas about dragging me to even more of those, I am going to be joining you here every night!" Anna threatened playfully.

"You already have a standing invitation here, so I may have to start." Elsa said with an equally playful smile, nudging her sister in the side.

"Great." Anna grumbled sarcastically. "Why do they care about you getting married so much anyway? Is the kingdom not doing fine as it is?"

"Actually, this has been one of the best years in our history. Trade is up, everyone is happy, the kingdom could not be better off. Everyone from the serfs to you and I are prospering more than ever. I do not have the slightest idea why it is such a problem for some of them." Elsa explained. "As I have made it clear several times though, I will only marry someone I want when I am ready."

"The way it should be." Anna hummed. "Besides, if everything is going so well, I see no reason to throw in a new problem. You are doing just fine on your own."

"Thank you, Anna," Elsa said as she wrapped her arm around her sister's. "I am not so sure I would want a husband anyway."

The two fell quiet as Elsa pulled her sister closer and they continued walking through the peaceful, snow covered garden. Elsa let a gentle flurry of snow begin to fall as her mind began to wander.

She glanced at the seemingly unaware redhead. _I cannot believe I spent so long pushing her away. If she was able to make that meeting easier just by being there, I can only imagine how much better the past few years could have been._

While Elsa was letting her thoughts wander, Anna was hyper focused on what her sister had just said.

 _Not want a husband? Does that mean she wants a wife? Do I have a chance?_ She began to think entirely too quickly. _That is insane, of course I do not have a chance. That is not what she meant! I am just imagining things again._

With that last thought, she suddenly remembered her talk with Ingrid this morning.

"Oh yeah!" she yelled, pulling herself and her sister back from their thoughts.

Elsa yelped at the noise and glared at her sister. "You have got to stop scaring me like that!"

"Sorry," replied a snickering Anna, "but I almost forgot that I had something to ask you! Remember last night? Our walk out here?"

"Of course I do," Elsa stated with a raised brow, unsure of where her sister was going with this.

"Well, I was talking to Ingrid this morning before breakfast and I told her that we came to walk out here and how it had snowed on us and everything, and she told me it did not snow at all yesterday. She was outside in other parts of the castle and had not seen a single flake anywhere. You saw it here though, right?"

Elsa did not know what to say. _How am I supposed to explain this?_ She briefly panicked, before taking in slow breaths to try and calm herself down. _Just breathe, she has no reason to think you had anything to do with it._

"I definitely remember the snow." she finally said.

"So I am not crazy!" Anna cheered.

"It is odd that it was only here though," she said slowly, trying to be as convincing as she could.

Elsa got lost in her head worrying about what would happen if Anna found out about her powers. _I need to be more careful with the snow. I cannot let that much fall or I have to find a way to cover the whole castle. She cannot find out about what I can do. Especially not now. But can I make it snow that much? I have never tried over that large of an area before…_

"The temperature really drops fast once the sun sets," Anna remarked with a shiver.

"What?" Elsa asked, suddenly aware of what was happening. _That is not from the sunset!_ she thought in a panic. _I am doing that! Stop panicking!_ "Oh, uh, I did not notice." She added. _I need to calm down! I cannot just make it warm again, though, or she will notice something._

As she continued to panic even more, it got colder still. "Let us go back inside!" She suggested quickly. "Dinner should be ready soon anyhow."

"Sure." Anna agreed.

As soon as the pair were back inside, Elsa changed the temperature around her back to normal with a sigh of relief.

"I think I will go to get those books before dinner." Anna said, turning down a hallway that led towards Elsa's study. "I do not want to forget them. If that is okay with you, of course."

"That is fine with me." Elsa answered quickly. "I will see you in the dining room then?"

"Yes, I will be right there." Anna called over her shoulder as she hurried off.

"That was a close one." Elsa whispered to herself. She tried to clear the worry out of her mind as she made her way to the dining room. _As long as I make sure to be more careful, nothing will happen._ She thought to herself. _I_ _will not let it. Anna cannot find out._

 _I will not lose her again._

* * *

After dinner, Elsa excused herself back to her study. She said she wanted to page through a few of the books Anna had left behind to see what their father had written about when he was king. Any notes about how he, or even their grandfather, had ruled were sure to be useful.

This left Anna by herself for the rest of the night and she decided to retire to her chambers early. She was eager to get back to the books those books as well. At this point, her original hopes of finding out what "the accident" was were all but gone. Her fathers accounts in the book she had read through earlier were beginning to become a story of their own and she was excited to continue reading and learning more of her parents.

When she got back to her room, she quickly changed into a nightdress and went straight to the pile of books on her desk.

 _Which one did I finish earlier?_ She wondered. _It does not matter I suppose. This one will do!_

She grabbed the book off the top of the stack and climbed into bed. She moved the candle on her night table so she could see better and opened it up.

This one appeared to be from his younger years. He wrote of lessons on etiquette that Anna loosely recalled from when she was a child as well. How to behave at royal dinners and royal gatherings. From there it went on to combat training when he had gotten older so he could lead their army.

She skimmed through this one more than the last, not quite as interested in this subject, but kept an eye out for more about him and her mother. Coming to the end of this book, she grabbed another and turned to the first page.

 _Ah-ha! This is the one I left off on earlier!_

The first few pages were some final thoughts on his coronation and becoming the new king,

' _It is still a surreal feeling. I am the new king, and my wife is now queen. I am still waiting to wake up and find that the coronation was all just a dream. Am I ready to rule over an entire kingdom? Will my people like or respect my rule? We are about to be responsible for the wellbeing of the entire land. We are expected to lead these people and provide for and protect them._

 _I must be ready, though, or they would not have passed the throne on to us. I have been preparing for this my entire life. I know what to do, now it is time to do it. I just need to believe in myself as much as mother and father do.'_

 _Even he did not feel ready to rule and he had years to prepare. Elsa had no one to prepare her and look how well she is doing! How well the kingdom is doing!_ Anna thought after reading that passage. She became suddenly proud of what Elsa was able to accomplish as Queen. _I sure have an amazing sister… It is a good thing she is the one with the crown and not me. I would never be able to do what she does._

She turned back to the book and read on. By now, her eyes were glued to the pages. The following passages were of their travels to neighboring kingdoms as the new king and queen of Arendelle. They traveled to Corona and DunBroch, two of the larger kingdoms and now two of their greatest partners, before going to Weselton and the Southern Isles. It appeared that even their father hated dealing with Weselton from the moment he first arrived there. They were just as greedy and sneaky as they were now.

 _Some things never change I suppose,_ Anna laughed to herself.

A yawn escaped her lips and she rubbed her eyes. She was becoming increasingly tired, but she simply could not put down these journals. So, she read on.

' _Finally, we are done with our travels. Visiting the other royal families was all well and good but it is rather nice to be home. I think we left a good mark on Corona and DunBroch. Weselton was a nightmare. The Southern Isles was nothing too special. I look forward to a few days rest before getting back to the regular work of a king._

 _It has been nice to rest for a while but today we received the most incredible new. My wife is pregnant with our first child! I could not be happier to hear of this! There is much to be done now in preparation. A nursery to be arranged, nurses to be assigned. I do not know where to begin!'_

 _That must be Elsa!_ Anna thought excitedly.

Another yawn escaped her but she wanted to try and continud reading nonetheless. The candle on her table was nearly burned away and her eyes were growing heavy.

 _Just a few more pages, I am almost done with this one…_ she thought sleepily.

As she read about their preparations for a child, Anna could not help but put herself in their shoes. As much as she thought she was nowhere close to ready for a child, it was sort of fun to think about how she would set up a room for them and the furniture and toys.

 _I wonder if Elsa and I could ever have a life like that._ she thought as a smile spread across her face. _I would love that…_

She shook that idea from her head for now and continued on.

' _The day is finally here! While trying to deal with the unnatural snowstorm that covered the castle grounds, I was brought news that my wife had gone into labor. Our beautiful baby girl was born this morning! Her name will be Elsa. My wife is doing well after labor and is resting now with the baby. I cannot find the words to describe how happy I feel. I must go and be with them._

Anna found he next few pages rather amusing. The accounts of sleepless nights with the crying newborn and her father completely unsure of how to raise a daughter were funny to her. A few pages later though, she began to think she was making up thoughts of her own.

 _'I do not know how to describe the scene we woke up to this morning. As Iduna and I lay in bed before breakfast, a servant came knocking with an urgent matter. They rushed us out of bed to Elsa's nursery, refusing to tell us what it was about. What came next I cannot explain and I now understand why the servant could not either. The door to the room appeared to be covered in frost and snow dusted the hall around it. A guard stood nearby, awaiting our approval to break down the door as no one could open it by hand._

 _Without any further delay I ordered him to break it open and the sight inside was even stranger. Snow was falling around the crib and covered the ground in a thick layer of white. The furniture was cased in ice and the windows frozen over. We rushed to the crib to find Elsa sleeping peacefully, entirely unharmed as if nothing was out of the ordinary…'_

 _Surely, I cannot be reading this right,_ she thought with big yawn as she started the entry for a second time.

As she skimmed over the page again, her eyes finally grew too heavy. In the middle of the page, sleep overtook her, and the book fell shut to the floor as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **Huge shout out and thank you to djc for helping me review this chapter and finally get it out to you guys. They've been a big help in making sure this made sense and was legible after all of my stressed writing.**

 **On another note entirely, I have no idea how long this is going to be. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface and this may become a real long story or it will suddenly crash and burn because I wrote myself into a corner. Either way, I hope I keep you guys interested and along for the ride. I'm also working on a second story that I'm looking forward to hopefully sharing with you guys soon! Super excited about that one!**

 **As always, reviews are greatly appreciated! See you next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome back, everyone!**

 **Real quick, for the handful of you that have favorited/followed this story, in case you got any notification about me changing any of the old chapters, don't worry about it. I just reuploaded them with some minor edits to some word choices and phrasings but none of the events or anything changed so don't bother rereading anything. I'm just a little obsessive and had to change a few things as I reread through the story for the first time after so long.**

 **Normal disclaimer: I don't own any part of Frozen and this is a related Elsanna.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Elsa closed the cover to another one of her father's old journals and set her quill down on her growing stack of notes. It was not exactly fun reading of rulings and orders handed out by her father, but she had to admit, she felt like she was learning a lot. It was good for her to read about how he had gone about particular issues and how the people had responded to his decrees.

She could not help the small chuckle that escaped her as she thought these lessons from her father came a few years too late.

As she leaned back in her chair, she took a moment to look around the room and noticed the light from her candles was beginning to fade and the fire had reduced to no more than dimly glowing embers, leaving the corners of her study, and the few rows of bookshelves along the side, in the dark.

 _Four in one night is not that bad,_ she thought as she counted the stack of books next to her. _Perhaps just one more before the candles go out._

It had been hours since she had excused herself from dinner and she was now struggling to stay awake. She had no idea what time it was, but she wanted to take in as much of her father's wisdom as quickly as she could.

She got up from her chair and made her way back to the shelf, squinting to try and see where she was going as her eyes tried to adjust to the fading light. A yawn escaped her as she turned past a shelf, only for it to be replaced by a surprised yelp as her foot caught on something, sending her crashing to the floor.

"What in the world!?" she exclaimed as she felt around the darkened floor for what she had tripped over.

"What's this doing on the floor?" she continued as she lifted what appeared to be one of her father's more recent journals, given the style and condition of the leather. "Anna must have dropped one on her way out earlier," she finished with a raised brow.

She brought it back to her desk and flipped it open, not at all surprised to see her father's familiar handwriting. As she skimmed through the first entry, she realized it wasn't like the predominantly political journals she had been reading up to this point. It was an account of an event but she could not place a date to it.

' _Once they finished, we were finally ready to return home. We took the ride back more slowly than the ride there, but we still made it back shortly before day break. Iduna and I were exhausted and longed to get everyone into bed. Elsa was awfully shaken up and welcomed the chance to sleep, but Anna had slept through the night and we were not sure if we should have left her alone. We had a bed made for her in our chambers to keep an eye on her and to our surprise, she slept for nearly a full day more.'_

 _This is obviously not one of his political journals._ _Why does this sound so familiar?_ Elsa wondered. She knew the story, she was sure of it, but she could not remember why. Perhaps reading it from her father's perspective was throwing her off _._ She read on.

 _'_ _Anna woke this morning and she seems to be doing okay after sleeping for the better part of a full day, though she does seem tired and lacking of her normal enthusiasm. They told us this could be expected but it is so hard to see her like that, even if it should only be for a short while. She is just not her usual self.'_

Elsa froze as the memory suddenly flooded her mind and she realized exactly what her father was writing about. Against her better judgement, and completely unnecessarily, she continued reading. She had to know what her father had thought of what happened.

 _'_ _After a couple more days of rest, she is right back to her normally cheerful self. She is once again skipping through the castle and playing outside. When it snowed this morning, she could hardly wait to get out and build her usual snowman with Elsa._

 _That is where things stay worrisome. Elsa is still cautious around Anna. She has been getting better too but slower than her sister. I think the accident the other day was more of a fright to her than it originally appeared. She has had to keep from making any snow or ice in front of Anna now that those memories are gone… We will have to talk about what we should do from here. With her powers growing as quickly as they are, I fear what may happen if she does not learn to control them…'_

Tears threatened her eyes and a lump formed in her throat as guilt washed over her just as strongly as it had that day. The memory was as vivid as the day it had happened so many years ago. Blinking back the tears, she read on.

 _'_ _After days of thought, Iduna and I have made a very difficult choice… we cannot risk Elsa losing control of her powers again. Who knows what may happen the next time. The trolls said we may not be so lucky if Anna gets hurt again. And what if it were a citizen or visiting noble? We have decided to restrict her to her room's wing of the castle and Anna will have to stay in the other half until we can get everything back under control. We have also decided to close off the castle grounds to the citizens. No merchants, no travelers and no visiting nobles. Only the essential staff and our family for the foreseeable future… I know it will be hard for the girls but, until Elsa can control her powers, we have no other choice. Elsa will still have Astrid and she will not need to hide her powers from her at least. It is for the wellbeing of the kingdom…'_

It was with that last paragraph that Elsa finally broke down. Reading about the memory that has haunted her all these years from her father's perspective was too much for her to handle.

 _How could he believe that the best way for me to learn about my powers and learn to control them was to lock me away from everyone? From my only sister? To make me feel like I was some sort of monster for years and that I had to be kept away for the betterment of the kingdom…_

Tears of sadness, and now anger, stained her face as she wept quietly to herself. She hated what had happened. For years she was alone. No one to help her learn. No one for her to play with or talk to. Her parents were always busy and the few staff members that were not scared to death of her powers were often kept away, albeit unintentionally. Yet, at the same time, she knew he had to think of the kingdom as well. What would she have done in his shoes?

As the tears slowly stopped falling down her now red cheeks, a new fear came over her.

 _If this book starts in the middle with our ride home…_

Before she could finish the thought, her feet carried her back to the bookshelf. She frantically grabbed each of the remaining books and opened the back covers, scanning through the last few pages of each one, hoping she would find the preceding entry she was so desperately looking for.

As she turned the last page in the last book, panic set in and she dropped it to the floor.

"It is not here…" she said quietly. "It is not in any of these. That must mean that… Anna!"

Elsa ran from her study, nearly crashing through the door as she went.

"Your Majesty!" cried one of her guards as she tore down the hall. "What is it? Has something happened?" he called in confusion as he and the other two guards began to chase after her.

It was no use, though. Elsa was down the hall and up the stairs before the men could even blink. She had no time to waste.

She raced down hallway after hallway to Anna's room, her worries only growing.

 _What if she has already seen it?_ She thought.

With every step closer she got, her fear now doubled and the knot in her stomach tightened.

 _What if she knows?_ She asked herself. _Why has she not said anything? What can I tell her?_

Finally, she was at Anna's door. Underneath, she could see the light of a candle still flickering inside. _Is she still awake?_

She reached for the knob and froze, one final thought escaping her as if asked by someone else.

"What will she think of me?"

She was unsure just how long she had stood there waiting but the sound of shuffling armor snapped her from her trance.

"Did the Queen come this way?" she heard one of the guards ask.

"Not that I have seen," another replied.

"You two go down that hall and I will look this way," a third ordered.

 _I cannot let them see me here!_ Elsa told herself as she opened Anna's door as quickly and as quietly as she could, slipping inside and closing it just as two of the guards rounded the corner.

She let out a sigh of relief and leaned her back against the door. _That was far to close,_ she reprimanded herself.

Looking around the room, Elsa took in her surroundings. It had been ages since she had been in Anna's room, perhaps since before the accident, and it surprised her to see that very little had changed. Granted, all of their old dolls and childhood toys had long since been donated to the local orphanages, but the furniture and décor were just as she remembered.

"You really have not changed, have you Anna?" she whispered with a small, endearing smile.

Anna rustled under her covers and Elsa froze once more.

 _I cannot wake her up!_ Elsa scolded herself silently. _Or I will not find that journal._

She stood silent and still for what felt like hours until, to her relief, Anna resettled.

 _Good, she is still asleep._ Elsa noted, trying to slow her now racing heart. _Now where would she have left those books?_

She glanced around the room and spotted a stack of them on Anna's desk. She glided across the room silently and began to skim through the last few pages of each journal.

 _No… Not this one… Not here… Nothing. It is not in any of these either!_

She breathed another sigh of relief. This discovery, however, was as worrisome as it was relieving. While it meant that Anna had not taken the journal that told of the accident, it also meant that it was still somewhere in the castle. Elsa knew that she had the other journals that detailed her magic, but any one piece of that story getting out would be disastrous for both of them.

 _Could she have dropped it somewhere in my study and I simply overlooked it?_ She wondered. _Maybe it fell in the hall and she did not notice._ Elsa thought, trying to figure out where it could be. _I will have to look on my way back._

The rustling of covers snapped her out of her rambling thoughts yet again, and she twirled around to stare at the bed. When no more movement came, she decided it was as good a time as any to leave before she had to try and think up a reason for being caught here in the middle of the night.

 _I need to find that book!_ She thought as she slipped back into the hallway. _I will have to keep her from reading any she does not already have until I can find it._

Elsa decided to retrace her steps back to her Study, regathering her detail of guards as she did so. Her eyes danced along every corner of the floors looking for the missing journal and her mind raced as she tried to think of a plan.

* * *

Once again, Anna had forgotten to shut her curtains before bed and the rising sun had woken her up once more. She tried to block it out with her blankets, but it was no use. She was up, and it looked like it would be staying that way.

Groaning, she sat up in her bed and stretched out, trying to shake the lingering grip of slumber. As she kicked her feet over the edge of her bed something caught her eye. A small piece of paper, folded in half with her name beautifully written on the side, was sitting on her desk

 _Who put this here?_ She wondered as she picked it up and examined the handwriting.

She opened the paper and read the note inside.

' _Please join me for breakfast in the dining room as soon as you are awake! ~Elsa'_

Once she had read her sister's name she did not wait another second to get ready. If Elsa was asking for her personally then she would not keep her waiting a moment more than absolutely necessary.

She flew through her usual routine but cut every corner she could. Before her bath could even warm up she was in the ice-cold water. When she finished, she had barely dried herself off before slipping into her dress, impressing herself at how quickly she was able to do so without any help. Finally, just as rapidly as she had entered her bathroom, she was on her way out the door, pulling a hairbrush through her wild red hair before tossing it on her bed as she slammed the door shut behind her and ran for the dining room.

By the time she had gotten to the dining room, her still mostly wet hair was neatly braided into two perfect pigtails. She took just a moment to look herself over in one of the mirrors in the hallway before going in to look for Elsa.

To her surprise, the room was empty. She stood there for a second wondering what to do. It was still early but perhaps she had missed her.

Just as she turned to leave, the door opened and in walked Elsa, her hands full of papers and a couple folders.

"Anna! You made it!" she exclaimed. "And you are early."

"I thought I had missed out. What do you have there?"

"These," Elsa replied as she laid the stack of papers on the table, "are some of the things I wanted to talk to you about. I was wondering if you would be able to help me with some of the proposals and requests that have been coming in from shop keepers and castle staff."

"Are you sure you want me to help with that?" Anna asked skeptically. "I am not sure I would know what to do."

"I know it is a strange request, but I have a number of meetings scheduled this week and I am not so sure I will be able to keep up with these. I can help you today and show you what to do if that would help," Elsa explained.

Anna knew Elsa had been getting busier lately with winter approaching but she thought it was all under control. She hesitated a minute before answering.

"I suppose I have been wanting to be more of a help around the castle. And if it will make things easier on you then I would be happy to try," she finally agreed.

The sisters chose their seats next to each other and Elsa shuffled around some papers just as a pair of servants entered from the kitchen. They set down a pair of silver trays and two mugs next to the sisters, before quickly disappearing through a side door back to the kitchen.

"Thank you, Anna. This will really be a great help," the older girl said, giving Anna a quick appreciative hug that the younger sister melted into. "We can start to go over these ones during breakfast since my advisors wanted to discuss them at today's meeting." Elsa said, opening one of the folders and laying out the numerous sheets it held.

"Wait, another meeting?" Anna groaned. "Do I have to go to this one too?"

"Of course, you have to see what I go over so you can do it next time."

With an exaggerated sigh and playful roll of her eyes, Anna picked up one of the documents and stared at it blankly. "It is way too early in the morning for me to want deal with _them_ again," she said.

Elsa simply laughed at the response and continued to sort through the documents in front of them.

Anna could feel the stress of the impending meetings building already, "You can expect me on your nightly walks from now on then."

"Like I said before, you are already have a standing invitation," Elsa laughed. "Now pay attention, I promise it will not be too much."

"Fine," Anna groaned again with even more fake annoyance, "But I am going to eat while you start," she added, pulling a mug closer to her and lifting the cover from her chosen tray. The smells of fresh fruits and baked goods flooded her nose and she realized how hungry she was.

As the pair enjoyed their breakfast, Elsa explained what her responsibilities would be. "All you will need to do is review orders from the castle for things like food and supplies, make sure we are not buying too much food or anything like that. You will also deal with most of the requests from the armory and guards as well as the stables. That will again be for food and pay for the guards and equipment for the horses. Finally, you will hear concerns from the townspeople and shopkeepers in the main square, settle what you can and bring any larger concerns to me if they arise."

"So you just want me to run the whole kingdom for you for a couple days?" Anna joked. "If I do all of that, what will be left for you?"

"Well," Elsa began, " _I_ will be handling trade and alliance negotiations, along with peace talks with other kingdoms so that we will be kept safe and not get dragged into some sort of violent conflict."

"Oh," Anna replied plainly. "I guess that seems like a fair split then."

Elsa laughed again, "I am glad we agree. It should only be for a few weeks or so until some of these agreements are signed. Then I will take back all my duties. A month at most," she promised.

"A month?! I have to go to a month's worth of meetings? How many even is that?"

"It is… probably best for you not to think about that," Elsa said, a wide grin spreading across her face upon seeing Anna's reaction. "Now, we need to focus, they will be expecting us soon."

* * *

This same routine went on for weeks. Anna woke up early every morning, met Elsa for breakfast, then went off to either hear from townspeople or followed Elsa back to her study to go over and approve different orders. Elsa had been surprised at how quickly she caught on, but she had been right in saying it was not very difficult work.

The meetings though, while still dreadfully boring and frustrating for Anna, were not quite as bad as she had expected. As far as she could tell, she was there more because Elsa simply wanted her to be rather than for her input. She barely had to contribute anything to the discussion and so she normally just blocked it all out until it was her turn to speak. When it was, she would give her update to the council and then go right back to ignoring them.

It was before one of these meetings, that Anna found herself in Elsa's Study. She was sifting through documents while Elsa was off doing something that she could not seem to remember. Perhaps an hour before it started, the queen in question walked in and took her spot at her desk, getting right to her work. Anna looked up and gave her a friendly smile and quick hello before returning to her own tasks.

It was not unusual for the two to work quietly. They had become quite comfortable with just being in each other's company, Anna only speaking up when she had a pressing question. Otherwise, she would simply focus on the work in front of her while occasionally stealing admiring glances at the beautiful blonde across the room.

Today, however, was a bit different. After Elsa had come in and began her duties, Anna glanced over and swore she had caught Elsa quickly looking away. She originally brushed it off as catching her moving at just the right time, but a few short minutes later, it happened again.

 _What is she doing?_ Anna thought. _She is usually so focused on her work during the day._

She turned back to the documents in front of her, but she could not seem to focus. Her attention began to drift around the room from her table, to the bookshelves, to the fire crackling in the fireplace, and finally back onto Elsa. And yet again, the older girl's eyes quickly darted away.

Anna quickly scanned the area around her for something that could be catching Elsa's attention so much.

 _What could she be looking at!?_ She yelled to herself silently. _I am sitting alone with only papers on my desk._

 _Is it me?_ She wondered, slightly worried. _Do I have something on my face? Is something stuck in my teeth? Did I catch something in my hair?_

As she ran through the list of things in her head, she tried to check and see if any of them could be the reason. She quickly brushed a hand over her face to try and brush anything off, smoothed out her braids to make sure they were in place, and ran her tongue over her teeth to make sure there was nothing stuck there from breakfast.

 _Everything seems fine._ She assured herself. _Did I spill something on my dress?_

She casually stood to try and check her dress but caught the hem under her foot in the process. She lost her balance and tried to steady herself on the table, only to knock her papers to the ground in the process.

Elsa looked up when she heard papers hit the floor and could not help the giggle that escaped as she watched Anna regain herself.

"What on earth are you doing?" she asked while trying, and failing, to stifle her laughter.

"I uhm- well I- You were-" Anna stammered trying to explain herself. "You keep looking at me and I just thought maybe I had something on my dress or in my hair so I was trying to check and I caught my dress and now my stuff is flying everywhere," she babbled.

A small blush crept to Elsa's cheeks. "You noticed that, huh?" she said shyly. "I was just… thinking about something."

"Something what?" Anna asked, still smoothing and inspecting her dress.

"There is nothing on your dress, Anna. In fact, you look beautiful today," Elsa assured her. "Actually, that is kind of what I was thinking about."

"How beautiful I am?" Anna asked surprised.

"Well, sort of. I have not really taken the time to really observe you before," Elsa said.

"That sounds really strange," she added after a moment of thought. "What I mean is, I have not had a chance to notice what a wonderful young woman you have grown into over the years I missed."

Now it was Anna's turn to blush. "Oh stop," she said. "I am still the same old Anna."

"In some ways, yes," Elsa began thoughtfully. "You still ramble just as much as before," she laughed. "But you have also grown so much. You have been handling my advisors so well and I hear you have been sorting out everything with the shops and citizens quickly and responsibly. I did not expect you to pick up on so much so soon. I am just getting to see what a smart, capable and beautiful woman you have blossomed into."

Anna was speechless. She was never speechless. But this had caught her off guard.

 _Elsa thinks I am beautiful?_ Was all she could manage. _Sure it was thrown in with a whole bunch of other things but she said it!_

"Anna?" Elsa asked, a little concerned with her sister's sudden and uncharacteristic silence. "Is everything alright? Did I say something wrong? I am still not doing so well with these sentimental moments…" she said, trailing off with a nervous chuckle.

"No!" Anna yelled, quickly covering her mouth with her hand, embarrassed by her own outburst. "I mean, that was so sweet of you to say."

"I have never seen you speechless, it made me a little worried," Elsa joked.

"You have never been so sappy," Anna countered. "I had to take a moment to appreciate it. Plus, it means a lot coming from someone like you."

"Someone like me?" Elsa questioned.

"You know, someone so incredible! I can only dream to handle myself like you do. Or look half as good as you do every day," she said playfully, her confidence returning.

Elsa blushed again. It was now her turn to fall silent for a moment before replying.

"I am just happy to see you catch on so quickly and I really appreciate all of the help."

"And you think I am pretty," Anna said, joking a bit more at her sisters' expense.

"Stop it," Elsa laughed, "try not to let that go to your head."

"As for the work, I had a great teacher. Pretty cute one, too," Anna quipped with a playful wink.

Elsa seemed to brush off the wink with a little laugh. "Speaking of work," she said, "we should get back to it. We do have another meeting soon," She reminded her sister.

"I was trying not to think about it," Anna huffed as she finally sat back down. "But you are right."

The two went back to their respective tasks and Anna tried her best to focus again. She tried to write a few notes just to have anything to say, but her mind quickly began to wander once more. She was not looking forward to another one of these meetings. It was the third one this week and nothing had changed.

 _Nothing new has happened since yesterday's meeting so why do we need to have this one?_ She asked herself. _I already know exactly how it will go. We will walk in and Elsa will greet them, we will cover the same exact topics as yesterday, then it will quickly devolve into the 'you must find a king' argument until someone inevitably complains about the cold._

She sat there for another moment before she made a strange realization.

 _Every one of these meetings ended because of the room getting cold,_ she mused. _And now that I think about it, it always seems to happen after they start arguing…_

A confused look spread across her face as she furrowed her brow in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Elsa asked.

"Huh?" Anna hummed as she snapped from her rambling thoughts.

"You have been sitting still with a funny look on your face for a couple minutes now. What is it?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just about these meetings."

"It should be a quick one today. Nothing has really changed since yesterday."

"I assumed as much. But that is not quite what I was thinking about."

"Oh?"

"Have you noticed how cold it gets at the end of each one?" Anna asked.

Elsa seemed to freeze at the question. "What do you mean?" she finally asked.

"During each of the meetings, after about a half hour of them arguing about you getting married, a freezing draft comes through. The room must drop at least a few degrees. I just cannot think of why. The windows do not open in that room and all of the doors out lead into other parts of the castle," the redhead mused.

"I am not sure what it is either." Elsa commented almost too quickly. "It is probably nothing. Maybe it is just in your head?"

"I am not so sure. Your advisors sometimes comment on it as well, so it is not only me." Anna noted.

"Maybe you are catching a cold and it is a case of chills?" Elsa suggested nervously.

"I have been getting a little less sleep lately but I do not think I am getting sick. You have really never noticed?"

"Nope," Elsa replied quickly.

"Are you alright? You seem a little anxious," Anna asked, now concerned with Elsa's quick replies.

"I am fine, just worried about you now. I would hate for you to get sick because you are exhausting yourself to help me," the older girl explained. "How about you take this afternoon off? I can handle this meeting on my own."

"You should not worry about that. I wanted to help! I can handle it," Anna assured her. "Like you said, it should be short and-"

"You have been working so hard though," Elsa cut her off. "Please take the afternoon off. I insist."

Anna was once again speechless. Elsa was acting very strange all the sudden and she did not know what to make of it.

 _I guess I am a little worn out lately. Perhaps it would be good for me to rest a bit. Especially if today is going to be this light._

"I guess I could take one day off," she finally admitted. "Are you sure though?"

"Of course. You go get some rest and I will handle today's meeting for both of us." Elsa confirmed.

"Alright. I will see you later then." Anna said as she gathered a few things as they both got up to leave.

"Of course. I assume you will still meet me in the garden?" Elsa asked.

"I would not miss it," Anna replied as they went their separate ways down the hall.

* * *

It was a strange feeling having nothing to do after she had been so busy lately. With nothing to keep her busy, she started to notice just how tired she felt.

 _How has Elsa kept up like this for a year now?_ she wondered as she made her way through the halls. She was unsure of where to go and absentmindedly wound up back at her room.

She opened the door and found Ingrid bustling around the room.

She stopped when Anna entered, a look of surprise or confusion on her face.

"Anna," she stated. "What are you doing back so early? Did you forget something?"

"No, Elsa gave me the afternoon off. What are you up to?" Anna asked as she walked in and plopped herself onto her bed.

"I was just putting on fresh sheets and straightening up for you," she explained. "It has been a while since I really cleaned this room. I was just finishing actually. I will be heading down to get these old blankets cleaned in a moment. Do you need anything before I go?"

"No. I was just going to lie down for a bit. I have been running around nonstop for so long now, I just want to relax."

"Alright," Ingrid replied as she gathered up the old bedding and made for the door. "Oh, I almost forgot."

She went over to Anna's dresser and grabbed a book.

"This was tangled in a sheet under your bed. Not sure what it is or where I should put it," she said as she handed it to Anna.

"Oh, that is just one of my father's old journals. I was reading through a few of them. I guess I dropped this one at some point."

"I see. Well, I must get going now. I will be back around later if you need anything."

"Thank you, Ingrid," Anna called as the door closed.

She sat on her bed and flipped open the book. She could not remember which one this was or where she had stopped so she started at the first page.

She read, again, of her parents traveling to the other kingdoms when he took the throne and it began to come back to her. The story of her father finding out that her mother was pregnant was a little foggy, but she had remembered at least starting it.

Then she got to the section that she had fallen asleep during the last time.

 _'I do not know how to describe the scene we woke up to this morning. As Iduna and I lay in bed before breakfast, a servant came knocking with an urgent matter. They rushed us out of bed to Elsa's nursery, refusing to tell us what it was about. What came next I cannot explain, and I now understand why the servant could not either. The door to the room appeared to be covered in frost and snow dusted the hall around it. A guard stood nearby, awaiting our approval to break down the door as no one could open it by hand._

 _Without any further delay I ordered him to break it open and the sight inside was even stranger. Snow was falling around the crib and covered the ground in a thick layer of white. The furniture was cased in ice and the inside of the door and windows were frozen over. We rushed to the crib to find Elsa sleeping peacefully inside, entirely unharmed as if nothing was out of the ordinary._

 _No one can seem to explain any of it. It had snowed last night but the windows had been shut before we left her for the night. The guards say that no one had come to the room after us either. Snow cannot simply appear out of thin air so there must be an explanation.'_

Anna paused for a moment. _I thought I had dreamt this part._ She thought. _There is no way that this actually happened._

She continued, hoping to find a logical explanation as to what had occurred but there was no further mention in the next entries. It was as if they had simply ignored it after it happened. This was incredibly confusing to her, but she decided to just finish this book for now and maybe she would ask Elsa about it later, perhaps she would know something about it.

In the subsequent entries, Anna found plenty of stories about days in Elsa's childhood, her own birth and many more of the two growing up over the course of a few years. She loved each account and was really enjoying reading about them and reliving them through her father's eyes.

It was not until nearly the end of the book that snow made another appearance with Elsa.

 _'We were woken up in the middle of the night by laughter coming from down the hall. I got up to check who it was, only to find the door to Elsa's room covered in a thin layer of frost. Flashbacks of that night when Elsa was a baby flooded my mind and I ran the rest of the way, throwing myself through the door. In hindsight, maybe I acted a little aggressively. I nearly scared the girls to death slamming the door open like that in the middle of the night. But what else was I supposed to do?_

 _The sight inside was incredible. Snow materializing out of thin air as if falling from the ceiling. A small winter wonderland for the girl's right there in Elsa's room. I could not believe my eyes. Elsa and Anna recovered from their scare long before I could grasp what was happening and continued to build their snowman._

 _Clearly, I thought I was dreaming. I asked the girl's how they got all of the snow inside and I got a very strange answer._

 _Elsa made it.'_

Anna paused and stared at the page in front of her, unsure about what she had actually just read.

 _Surely Elsa did not actually make it snow. I would have to remember something like that, right?_ She asked herself. _Was he hallucinating? Losing his mind late at night?_

She turned the page, hoping this time that she would get an actual answer.

 _'It took quite some time for me to clarify what Anna meant when she said Elsa made it. When it was clear that I was not understanding, she told me to just watch Elsa. Then, right in front of my eyes, Elsa magically produced a snowball in her hand out of thin air._

 _I could not believe it and neither did Iduna. Had she not been in the room with us by then, she would have never believed me but we both saw it.'_

Anna's jaw hung open as she tried to come to grips with what she was reading.

"Elsa can make it snow?" she asked herself in awe. She was unsure if that was even a real question. "How is that possible?"

Then she had another thought, about the first night in the garden.

 _Ingrid said it had not snowed anywhere in the castle, but Elsa and I both know that it did._

Thinking back on it now, Elsa had seemed caught off guard when she questioned her about it the next day. And again just this morning when she asked her about the draft during their meetings with her council.

"It must be her…" Anna muttered, letting the statement drift off into the empty room.

She had no idea what to do or what to think.

 _She would tell me if she could do that, right?_ She assured herself. _Maybe it was a freak accident or maybe a trick we played on them!_

She read the next few pages only to find more of Elsa making it snow. Her father had called in priests and alchemists to try and figure out what was causing his daughter's strange powers, but no one was of any help. At least not until one of the newer servants told him of a group of trolls.

 _'Of everyone that I called on for answers, one of the servants has been the only one to provide any lead. At best, it is a longshot but what choice do we have? Rumors of witchcraft are beginning to spread. We will leave for the forest to try and find a gathering of trolls. It is said that they are familiar with this sort of magic and may be able to provide us insight as to what is happening with Elsa.'_

He went on to describe their meeting with the trolls and how they had told him and her mother that Elsa was gifted with the power of winter. She could make snow and ice just by thinking about it.

Anna wanted to run and ask Elsa so many questions, but she could not seem to get away from these pages first. She read on and on from there and every entry was of Elsa's powers or her and Elsa playing in the ball room and filling it with snow during the night and making snowmen in their rooms or the castle halls. She was amazed at every word she read but she had no recollection of any of it.

 _How can there be so many stories of her and I doing all of this and I cannot remember a single second of it?_ She wondered. _Surely I would have to remember filling the ballroom with snow!_

Finally, she neared the final pages. She had no idea how long it had taken but she knew as soon as she was done she had to find Elsa.

She turned the page to the final entry and things took a turn.

 _'Anna was hurt the other night while she and Elsa were playing in the ballroom. Apparently, she woke Elsa up to build a snowman in the middle of the night. This was not unusual for them. They were skating around the room before Elsa made a small hill for them to play on._

 _At some point, Anna had begun jumping off into piles of snow and Elsa kept making them bigger and bigger. Things got out of hand and Elsa could not keep up. She was blasting snow under Anna as quickly as she could, but Anna got ahead of her and she missed a blast. It struck Anna on the side of the head and she collapsed to the ground. Her body felt cool and she would not open her eyes.'_

She hesitated to read further. Did she really need to know what happened after that? Of course she wanted to, but reading about something like this with no memory of it kind of scared her. Obviously, everything had been okay since she was now reading about it, so did it matter what happened between then and now? Did she want to risk changing what had now grown between her and her sister?

Curiosity bested her and she turned another page.

 _'Elsa ran and got us and told us what had happened as she dragged us out of bed. Terrified we gathered them both and ran for the stables. I knew the trolls would be our only hope and there was no time to waste._

 _We bundled the girls in the carriage, Anna's body growing colder by the second. I readied the horses faster than I thought possible and before we knew it we were off for the forest, tearing through town and out of the castle gates._

 _The journey was not long but it seemed like a lifetime. We could not get there fast enough. When we had finally found the trolls clearing, I explained what had happened and they went right to their work. Anna was going to be okay but there was going to be a cost. Her mind had been affected by Elsa's magic and the only way to reverse it was to erase her memories of it. They were not going to be completely gone, however. Just the bits with the magic. They would be replaced with regular scenarios such as a normal snow fall or playing in the courtyard instead of the ballroom._

 _Elsa did not like the sound of that, but they assured us it was the only way and that it would be better if Elsa hid her powers from Anna from now on. They warned that if this were to happen again, there may not be a chance to save her. Iduna took Elsa back to the carriage and I waited with the trolls as they began their ritual.'_

The journal ended there and Anna closed the cover, letting it fall from her hands. She had no idea what to do. She sat there and gazed out the window. The sky was now turning a light shade of pink as the sun began to set.

"This must have been the accident that everyone always told me about," She muttered to herself.

 _Does Elsa remember?_ She suddenly thought. _Does she know and simply not want to tell me? Would I have believed it if she did? Does she blame herself?_

Her head began to spin as a million questions swarmed inside it. Thoughts of days as children building snowmen now seemed to be muddled with running through the ballroom at night when they were supposed to be asleep. She could not tell what was real and what had been faked or altered.

Images of snow in her and Elsa's old rooms began to form in her mind and her memories seemed as though they were changing. Did she remember Elsa's powers? The night began to feel familiar but came to her as though it were a dream she could not fully recall.

"I have to find her!" she exclaimed. Anna leapt from her bed and back out her door with only one thing on her mind.

"I need my sister."

* * *

 **Well there it is. Like I said, I know it has been way too long since my last upload and I am super sorry about that! I will do my best to ensure that doesn't happen again. Life got real crazy with some stuff I won't bore you about but it's all behind me now.**

 **Once again, big thanks to djc9739. Before they read it, this chapter was a load of hot garbage and now I am actually pretty happy with it. So, you have them to thank for getting me to a point that I felt this could be uploaded and shared with all of you wonderful people.**

 **I would also like to thank all of you for even reading my story. I never thought people would actually pay any attention to it but it just recently slowly rolled over 2,000 views and I couldn't be happier!**

 **Thank you all so much and as always, drop a review so I can hear what you think! A favorite never hurts either, lets me know people want more and keeps me motivated!**

 **P.S. Real quick note for the handful of you that have already favorited/followed this story, in case you got any notification about me changing any of the old chapters, don't worry about it. I just reuploaded them with some minor edits to some word choices and phrasings but none of the events or anything changed so don't bother rereading anything. I'm just a little obsessive and had to change a few things as I reread through the story for the first time after so long.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Well it wasn't exactly quick, but I think it was at least quicker than the last update…? (I know that is an incredibly low bar, but hey, some progress is better than none, right? Right?) Bunch of life got in the way but I won't bore any of you with that.**

 **Anyway, let's get to what you all actually care about, shall we? As usual I (sadly) DO NOT own any single bit of Frozen. Plot should be mine though. (Yay?)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _How did I not know about this?_ Anna asked silently as she ran through the halls. _Why did she not tell me?_

Her head was spinning from this new discovery and she was struggling to keep herself focused on the task at hand. All she could seem to do was scold herself for not noticing or somehow finding out about this before now.

She ran into Elsa's study, but it was empty, save for Kai gathering a few papers off Elsa's desk.

"Good evening, Princess Anna," Kai said, glancing up from the desk.

"Hello Kai," she answered hurriedly. "Is uhm- where is-" she stammered, trying desperately to formulate a working sentence but she was still too flustered.

Kai could sense her frustration. He stopped what he was doing and stood up straight, concern for the girl on his face.

"What is the matter, dear?"

"Elsa," was all she could finally get out.

"Oh, of course. You have only just missed her," he informed her. "She just finished her last meeting for today."

"Did she- do you-" she continued to struggle with her words.

"Where is she?" he tried to clarify.

Anna nodded, a sheepish but grateful smile spread across her reddening face.

"She should be in her chambers, dear. That is where she usually stops next. Is something the matter, Anna?"

"No, I just need her," Anna answered, again very quickly. "Thank you, Kai," she called over her shoulder as she ran out the door.

The longer this took the more Anna's thoughts raced. She thought about everything from her childhood and nearly every second that she had spent with Elsa throughout it. Thoughts of late nights spent with Elsa staring out the window at snow falling and covering the castle grounds, were now replaced with snow swirling around Elsa's room, coating all of the furniture and piling up on the floor. Memories of nights that the two spent sneaking out of their beds and making snowmen in the gardens, were now taking place in the castle ballroom, trees and flowerbeds mixing with the columns and archways off the ballroom and snow-covered tables and chairs lining the walls.

 _What if nothing I remember is real?_ She asked herself as she turned another corner. She began to feel angry. _This changes everything! How has she hidden something like this all these years? How could she hide it from me?!_

She shook these thoughts from her head and tried again to focus on finding Elsa, she could sort out the old memories later with her help.

 _What am I going to say?_ She asked herself. _I hardly even know what to think! This changes everything!_

She finally got to Elsa's room and ran right in again.

Astrid screamed when the door swung open. She spun around quickly, tossing the sheets she had been holding around the room.

"Princess Anna!" she exclaimed breathlessly, "you scared me half to death!"

"Where is Elsa?" Anna asked hurriedly. _I could not have been that far behind her!_

"She just left. She was headed to the garden," Astrid replied, beginning to pick up what she had dropped. Before she could add anything else though, Anna slammed the door shut and tore down the hall to their courtyard.

 _Our walk! Of course! I almost forgot,_ she scolded herself as she took off down the hall.

It felt like only seconds before she found herself at the door to the courtyard. Her running slowed to a crawl as she noticed that it was slightly ajar.

 _Looks like she is here,_ Anna noted as she crept up to the door.

She looked out and, just as she expected, saw Elsa seated on a bench where they would wait for one another if either one was running late. Anna paused and stared out at her waiting sister. She was facing away from the door, gazing around the courtyard peacefully. The pink and orange hues of the setting sun danced off her platinum hair as her signature braid cascaded down her back. A light breeze tossed the end of it side to side and rustled the hem of her dress.

 _She looks so peaceful here,_ Anna thought, her earlier worries suddenly starting to disappear. _So beautiful._

Anna closed the door without a sound. She turned around and leaned backwards against it. A quiet sigh escaped her and she closed her eyes. Seeing Elsa here now filled her head with a swarm of different thoughts. Thoughts of this last year.

She was reminded of the first night she had seen Elsa from her window. She had been sitting in her room, braiding her hair, when she heard a door burst open from the courtyard below. She could remember looking out and seeing the new queen leaning against the opposite wall, the stress she was under evident on her face. She recalled how Elsa's tension softened momentarily as she walked around the unkept path before returning all at once as she was dragged back inside by an advisor.

Anna thought of the weeks that followed. Elsa's appearances began to become a regular occurrence and Anna had begun to notice a change in her demeanor. When she was in front of foreign dignitaries or dealing with her Queenly duties, she stood tall and stoic. She never let her emotions show but Anna could always sense her tension, even from afar. But it was different in the garden. She let her guard down. She was relaxed and happy. Especially when she started to notice Anna's ordered changes.

Anna pictured the look of slight confusion when she had the path cleared for her. The smile that teased her lips when the statues had been restored. The most vivid of all though was the genuine joy in her eyes when she walked out and every bed was filled with fresh new flowers.

 _It is so hard to believe that she was hiding secret powers all that time,_ Anna thought. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the door. She tried to calm her racing heart with a few deep breaths.

 _So why does this suddenly change anything?_ She asked herself abruptly. _She has had these powers since that night, right? Her whole life even. That is what Father wrote, anyway. She is exactly the same as she was before I read that book. She is still Elsa. The same Elsa I fell in love with, powers and all. I still love her._

She stood up straight again and reached for the doorknob. She paused for just a moment longer and took one last deep breath.

 _I still need to know why she hid them._

With one last deep breath she walked outside. Elsa jumped up when she heard the door and she spun around to face her. A smile quickly replaced surprise on her face as she saw Anna walking toward her.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, wrapping the princess in a hug that Anna returned, perhaps a little too quickly.

"Sorry I am late," Anna offered. "I uh, I got a little distracted today. I guess I did not notice the time."

"That is no big deal. You are here now!" she said happily. She wrapped her arm through Anna's and began to walk their usual small loop. "How was your day off?"

"It was," Anna hesitated.

 _Where do I even start?_

"A little strange, I guess."

Elsa raised a brow at Anna's response. "How do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, all I have done for the last two months is work all day with you. I did not know what to do with a full day to myself."

She stopped Elsa at the first bench they came too which earned her a questioning glace from the blonde.

"Would you mind if we sat and just watched the sunset?" She asked. "It looks beautiful tonight."

Elsa seemed a little confused but did not ask any questions. "It has been a long time since I have had a chance to do something like that," she said instead. "That would be lovely."

Anna took a seat, followed by her sister. As soon as she was next to her, Anna scooted in close and hugged her arm tightly. She rested her head on Elsa's shoulder and the two fell into silence.

 _Okay, Anna, now is your chance._ She told herself.

 _But what if she really wants to keep it a secret? What if she pushes me away? She has hidden this her entire life! By the sound of it, no one else knows. And now I am about to unearth everything and throw it out into the open. Who am I to force her to share her secrets?_

"Anna?" Elsa called as she gently nudged her with her elbow.

She blinked a few times and looked around her. The sun was already down over the wall and it was much darker. Torches now burned along the path and she wondered how she had not noticed anyone come out to light them.

"Huh?" she hummed. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"Are you okay, Anna?"

"Yeah. Yes, of course," she lied. "Why?"

"Well, you said you wanted to watch the sunset, but you just spent the last half hour staring at the ground. Is everything alright?"

"Actually… there is something I wanted to talk to you about,"

"Is about helping me?" Elsa asked. "Because if you need more time to yourself, just ask. I can-"

"No, no," Anna interrupted. "It is not that. I actually quite enjoy helping you. Spending each day with you has been wonderful. I could do without the meetings and dealing with that horrid council of yours, though," she added with an awkward laugh.

She hugged Elsa's arm a little tighter and somehow cuddled herself even closer, then continued. "But I love getting to be with you every day. That is the reason I stayed past the month you promised in the first place… Any time with you is worth it."

Elsa placed her free hand over Anna's on her arm and nestled her cheek atop Anna's head. "And I love having you around just as much, I am sure," she reassured her. "So if it is not that then what _is_ on your mind?"

"It is about today…" Anna said quietly.

"About me giving you the day off? Did I say something wrong? I did not mean to make you feel unwelcome," Elsa began explaining. She sounded confused.

"No! No, the day off was appreciated. I think I needed it. It is what I did with my time that I wanted to talk about."

"Oh. Okay. What _did_ you end up doing?"

"I, uh… I finished reading Father's journals…"

Anna felt Elsa tense at the mention of the journals. It was only for a moment, and had she not been as close as she was, she was positive she would have missed it entirely.

 _Does she know what is in them?_

* * *

 _I forgot all about those!_ Elsa panicked. _Just keep calm. You never found the last one with your powers in it. Maybe Anna did not either._

"I thought you would have finished those a while ago, no?" She asked. She did her best not to let her voice betray her concern.

Anna shook her head. "No. I had forgotten about them until today actually. When I went back to my room, Ingrid was reorganizing some things and found one under my bed, tangled up in a sheet."

"That is a rather odd place for it to end up. So what about this one has gotten you so in your head? I thought you were excited to read them?"

"Oh, I was," Anna replied. "I mean, I am. And they are great. It is wonderful to still have his recollection of his whole life even though they are gone now. This one is just…" she trailed off as though she was unsure how to continue. Like she was having second thoughts.

"Just what?"

"…different," Anna hummed.

"What did he write about in it?" she asked.

 _Please be something else. Please be something else,_ Elsa prayed. _I do not care what just not me._

"Us," Anna said in a quiet voice.

 _Okay, us is better than just me,_ Elsa told herself.

"Well, us is nice, right? I mean we were such cute kids I am sure he had great things to say," Elsa tried to joke.

"Yeah, he did," Anna smiled. "It started with you being born and then me and then a few years of us together. Mostly shorter stories and sweet memories."

Elsa tried her best to not show her mounting worry. _Just leave it at that!_ she screamed in her head.

But her mouth had other plans. "Anything specific?"

"He had written about how happy he was when we were both born and how he had been so worried about how he would do raising two daughters. Then there were a lot of milestone memories, like our first words and when we learned to walk. Kind of what I would expect the normal parent memories to be of." Anna elaborated. She was still smiling but talking quietly and seemed to be hesitating like she was holding something back.

This was reinforced when she opened her mouth as if she were going to continue but paused for a moment and closed it. Elsa probably would not have even noticed had she not been so on edge about figuring out what was in that book.

"Was there anything else?" she prodded. _Why can I not let it go?_

Anna hesitated again before giving an answer.

 _Please say no. Please say that that was all, and he did not write about my powers!_ Elsa pleaded silently, hoping for a miracle.

"There were a few other entries," she added in a whisper. "A few about you…"

The way Anna let her sentence trail off tied Elsa's stomach into knots and set her heart racing. The air around her grew colder as all her worst fears swarmed in her head and she panicked that they would unfold in front of her.

"About me?" she asked, her voice shaky, nearly inaudible.

Anna only nodded in reply, almost as if she had been afraid to bring it up. But it was too late for that. Though she yearned to know what Anna was holding back, Elsa could not seem to voice any further inquiry. She felt like she was frozen in place, unable to speak for fear of rejection from the one person that she felt truly cared about her now.

Anna hugged Elsa's arm impossibly closer and pressed her cheek tighter to the blonde's shoulder.

"Are they true?" she asked. She was quiet but calm. "About the accident? About what you can do?"

 _Oh gods, she knows! How is she not afraid of me if she knows? How has she not run off to tell everyone about this?_

Elsa's heart pounded in her throat. She was not sure she could say even if she could manage to get a word out. She prayed that any second she would wake up and this would just be another bad dream.

"Why did you not tell me sooner?" Anna went on, not seeming to need an answer to her previous questions.

Tears welled in her eyes as she tried to say something to her sister. Anything at all. She wanted to deny it. She wanted to tell her that it was not true and that her life was completely normal.

 _No. I cannot lie to Anna,_ she told herself.

Anna released her grip on Elsa's arm and turned to look her in the eye. Elsa tried to look away, but Anna cupped her cheek gently. A tear broke from the corner of her eye and Anna wiped it away with her thumb.

"You know, this does not change anything between us," Anna said lovingly as she brought the blonde's gaze back to her own.

"H-How can it not?" Elsa managed to ask. Her voice cracked, and more tears threatened to stain her cheeks.

"Because I know that not your choice to keep this secret. I know it was _our parents_ ," she stated bitterly. "It was our own mother and father that thought it was okay to keep those memories from me. We may have missed a lot of time together, but it was _their_ fault."

Anna's teal eyes never left Elsa's icy blues and she could tell that Anna meant every word she was saying. She could feel it. But she could not help a nagging thought that Anna did not fully understand what she was saying.

"I cannot imagine how hard it would have been to keep that a secret without staying in your room like you did. I can understand why you stayed away."

"Nothing that happened was what I wanted, Anna. I wanted to be out here with you more than you can imagine."

"So why did you stay in your room?" Anna asked.

" _They_ kept me there too… Mother and Father kept those secrets from you and they had locked me in my own wing of the castle. They shut the doors and closed us both off from outside. They thought it was too much of a risk to-"

"How could they think that locking you up was a good idea?" Anna spat. " _They_ were the ones that did that to us? _They_ kept you away from everyone? Away from _me_ …?" Tears of both sadness and anger threatened to fall but she blinked them back.

"They _should_ have kept me away, Anna. They had every right to do so and it was the right decision," she said as she tore away from Anna's gaze, unable to look at her any longer. "I was dangerous. I _am_ dangerous. I nearly took you away from them! From me… I nearly _killed_ you…"

Anna moved from her side and knelt in front of Elsa. She gently cupped Elsa's face between her hands and turned those piercing blue eyes back up to her own. "It was not your fault, Elsa. I do not blame you for anything," she told her with a heartfelt smile. "I know what happened now. Father wrote about the whole thing. I know it was an _accident_. That we were playing in the ball room when I fell, and you caught me. If you had not been there to do that I would have fallen and hurt myself far worse. You _saved_ me."

"You would have been _safe_ if I had not been there in the first place," Elsa cried. More tears fell and her breathing became erratic as her repressed feelings of guilt crashed over her. "You would have never been in any danger then. You could have had a normal childhood and lived a normal life among other people. We would not have been shut away and you could have had friends and-"

Anna held a finger to Elsa's lips to quiet her.

Elsa stared back at her silently. The hurt and guilt in her eyes must have been clear as day to the younger girl in front of her.

"I should have never put you in a position like I did that night. I was an irresponsible child and you did all you could. You were only trying to make me happy," Anna assured her. "Do not dare to try and put any of this on yourself."

"You could have _died_ because of _me,_ Anna! I nearly lost my sister because of this horrible curse!" Elsa shouted, jumping to her feet. Her heart felt as though it would beat out of her chest and she began to pace back and forth, unable to calm herself. "You should have had friends and gone to balls and visited other countries and kingdoms with our parents. You could have been happy… You would have been better off without me. Without this monster that I-"

All of a sudden, she felt Anna's hands back on her face and Anna's lips on her own. Her tears continued to fall down her reddened cheeks, but her mind fell still. The snow and wind stopped almost instantly, the sudden softness of Anna's lips was all she could focus on. After what felt like an eternity, Anna pulled away and looked deep into Elsa's eyes.

"-had become…" Elsa finished lamely. Her lips tingled and a warmth spread across her face.

"I _am_ happy, Elsa. I would never want to think of my life without you. If you were gone, I know that I would be miserable," she said. "What happened that night was as much my fault as it was yours. But that is behind us and I am here now. Nothing bad came of it but a little memory loss."

Elsa stared back into deep teal eyes. She raised a finger to her lips, the sensation of Anna's kiss still lingering on them.

"Anna…"

"Nothing you could have ever done would make me wish that you were never in my life," Anna stated. "I love you, Elsa. More than you could possibly imagine. And no amount of magic powers could ever change that."

Elsa pulled Anna into a tight hug. She had yet to fully process what just happened but the fact that Anna accepted her and was not scared away meant more to her than anything in that moment. Her tears changed from those of guilt and fear to happiness and relief. She pressed her head into the crook of Anna's neck and they stood silently for a long while. Elsa relaxed into her sister's embrace as the light perfume of her hair calmed her, and her breathing returned to a more normal pace. She could feel Anna gently twirling the end of her braid between her fingers.

"Why did you hide it from me for so long?" Anna asked, finally breaking the silence.

Elsa did not answer right away.

"I know that mother and father had thought it best after they took me to the trolls, I read that part. But after all of that? When they were gone or after your coronation?"

Elsa mumbled something into Anna's neck. Her words were muffled by the dress and the princess had to take a half step back.

"What was that?" she asked.

"You still had no memory of it," Elsa repeated. "And I had spent so many years alone because of this curse, I was scared that if I told you, you would not believe me…"

"You could have shown me," she suggested.

"I was even more scared of that… What if I showed you and you ran away or told everyone? Or what if I had no control and hurt you again?" Elsa asked. "I thought I would lose you. I felt I was a monster…"

Anna took a moment to think before replying again. She guided Elsa back to their bench and sat back down.

"I might have been a little surprised," she admitted. "But I would never have run away or pushed you out of my life. Though I suppose cannot blame you for that fear. If I were in your shoes, I am sure I would have thought the same thing."

Elsa leaned into her sister once more, resting her head against Anna's shoulder and now tear dampened dress. The younger girls hand subconsciously found its way back to her platinum hair and she relaxed even more as Anna began to play with her braid.

"There were times when I wanted to tell you," she muttered, "The first time you came out here with me, I nearly did. It broke my heart to see you so sad about us being separated and I knew it was because of me but I could not bring myself to say anything…"

"Were… were you responsible for the snow that night?" Anna asked hesitantly.

"Mhm," Elsa hummed with a nod of confirmation. "That can happen with my emotions. That night I was not paying attention to these cursed powers-"

"Stop saying that," Anna demanded.

"Saying what?" Elsa asked confused.

"Stop saying curse."

"But that is what-"

"No," Anna cut her off again. "That is not what it is. They are… a gift."

A small smile teased the corners of her lips. _A gift…_ she thought.

"Well, anyway," she continued her explanation, "I was so excited to get here that night that I began to make it snow on my way. I was kind of surprised to see it when we got here."

"How did I not notice?" Anna chastised herself.

"I thought you were going to. When you had started asking me about the accident, I lost focus. I got scared and lost control of my emotions then it all started to melt. It was kind of a mess. But then you were distracted for a moment and I had stood up to try and hide changing it all back."

"And I missed all of that? I know I can be a little unobservant but…"

"I guess so. I wanted to tell you after that. I wanted to tell you the whole time… there was never a good time though. And if there was, I was too worried. I thought that if anyone found out, we would be accused of witchcraft and forced from the kingdom. Or worse…"

"I cannot say I have any idea how that must feel, but I _can_ understand why you would hide that from everyone. I would be lying, though, if I said I am not a little sad that you did not feel like you could tell me about it. I would never hold that against you, though. You were doing what you thought needed to be done. I have always admired that about you."

"Thank you, Anna." Elsa wrapped her arms around Anna once more and squeezed her tight.

Anna returned the embraced and planted a light kiss atop Elsa's head. "For what?" she asked.

"For not freaking out," the blonde answered. "For not running away and leaving me. For caring enough to talk about this."

"You mean more to me than a little kept secret. I would have never left," Anna said as she hugged Elsa tight. "Now come on. We should get inside for dinner."

* * *

"How can she really just be so… so okay with all of this?" Elsa asked her empty bedroom. She had been lying in bed for hours going over what had happened earlier that evening, trying to let herself be okay with it all.

She stared up at the ceiling and held her hands above her face. "I always thought she would have freaked out about this," she muttered as she formed a small snowball that floated between her fingers. Elsa twirled it in the air for a few moments before letting it dissolve with a sigh.

She groaned and rolled onto her side and looked out her window. "I wish I could just get some sleep."

She fell quiet as she stared out into the night. Snow began to fall and she was brought back to the nights she and Anna had huddled under her blanket before she made it snow in her room.

"I miss those nights. Cuddling, Anna, snow and hot chocolate," she whispered. She thought for a moment before a thought struck her and she sat up quickly. "Hot Chocolate!"

She jumped out of bed and quickly made her way to the kitchens after asking the guard at her door to have a fire started in the library for her.

 _Hot chocolate is a great idea,_ she told herself. _It always made me sleepy as a kid._

After a few minutes of brisk walking she was in the kitchen lighting a fire under one of the stoves burners. After that, she gathered a pot and found a wooden spoon from one of the drawers behind her.

"Now I just need some milk, sugar and cocoa… Probably in the pantry," she mused. She wandered to the back of the kitchens and into the large pantry and began to sift through the shelves. "Now where is- ah-ha!"

She produced two small boxes and walked back out. On her way to the stove, she grabbed a container of milk. She turned back to her pot to find it in the hands of a girl with familiar red pigtails.

"Anna?" she questioned, startling the girl.

"Eeep!" The princess let out an undignified yelp and lost her hold on the pot. Elsa could not contain a fit of giggles as it clattered to the ground. She spun around and Elsa could see her reddening face.

"Elsa! Do not sneak up on me like that!" she scolded.

"Technically I was here first," Elsa pointed out, stifling her laughter. "I was just getting a few things out of the pantry," she added, setting down the jar of milk and boxes on the counter.

"I guess I deserve it for scaring Astrid earlier. Anyway, what are you doing here so late?" Anna asked.

"I was just going to ask you the same thing."

"Well I asked first," Anna argued.

Elsa gave her a teasing stare.

"Fine," Anna scowled. "I cannot close my eyes long enough to sleep. Too many things going through my head," she said.

"Me neither. I was thinking about earlier and our childhood and then suddenly I really wanted some hot chocolate," Elsa laughed. "It always made me sleepy as kids, thought it might help."

Anna's eyes lit up at the mention of chocolate. "Can I have some too?" she sweetly asked.

"Of course. But you should try and be a little quieter," Elsa joked. "We do not need to wake up the whole castle by throwing this around."

She picked up the pot at Anna's feet and returned it to the flame. She poured in the milk then opened the boxes and scooped in a helping of cocoa and sugar.

"Hey! That was-" Anna exclaimed rather loudly before she quickly covered her mouth.

Elsa giggled quietly again and shot a teasing look the princess' way and Anna scowled back.

"That was your fault for scaring me," she whispered this time. "Anyway," she continued, hoping up to sit on the counter behind her. "What is keeping you up?"

"Like I said, I keep thinking about earlier."

"Me too. My head is still kind of spinning."

"I guess it is a little silly for _me_ to be worried. I know this has got to be a lot for you to take in."

"Nah, not really," Anna hummed. "Why are _you_ worried?"

"I guess I am surprised at how well you are taking it. I am worried that it will suddenly hit at once and you will tell everyone. You were so… so calm earlier. I want to be happy about it but I always thought you would be scared of me when you found out."

"Yeah, well you should have seen me before I got to the courtyard. I was not scared but a pretty surprised. I was _anything_ but calm! Quite the opposite, actually."

"Really?" Elsa asked surprised. She noticed the pot was coming to a boil and took it off the flame and set it aside. "Grab some mugs?"

"Sure," Anna answered, hopping off the counter and opening a cupboard behind her. She grabbed two mugs and set them next to her sister as she explained further. "And yeah. Before I got to the garden, I was running around the castle like mad looking for you! I made a fool of myself in front of Kai, not that that is anything new for me. And I scared the daylights out of Astrid in your room."

"That needs a little more explaining," Elsa laughed. "Care to join me in the library? I had a fire started a while ago."

Anna smiled. "I would love to."

Each of the sisters grabbed a mug and they walked out of the kitchen.

"So what happened before you found me?" she asked once they were out in the hall.

"Like I said, made a fool of myself in front of Kai and scaring your assistant to death," she joked. "If I were Kai, I would be worried about me. I could not get more than two words out at a time when I ran into your study. And I think I owe Astrid a better apology than I gave. Finding out about you sort of freaked me out at first. What do you think I should tell them?"

"I would not worry about it. They both know about my, uh, talents. They will not think anything of it when you tell them that you found out."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I can talk to them about it tomorrow, though. Now what made you calm down? I would have been a mess but you only seemed to be a bit thrown off by it."

"Well, when I got there and saw you sitting on the bench, everything seemed to stop. I waited at the door and watched you for a minute. You were so relaxed and at peace. It is different than when you are in the castle during the day. Anyway, I stopped to think about it there and that was when I realized that it did not really matter."

"So you can just ignore how everything changed?"

"It did not change, though. Not really. And that is what I mean. You are still just Elsa."

" _Just Elsa?_ Wow, thanks," Elsa said sarcastically and poked Anna in the ribs.

"Hey! Watch the hot chocolate!" She squealed before taking a sip of her drink. "And I do not mean it like that. What I meant is that you are not any different to me _now_ than you were our entire lives. Not even any different than yesterday. Sure I know about your little gift now, but you have had it since you were born, right? You are still Elsa, still my sister, and I still love you way too much."

"Thank you, Anna. All these years I had been so terrified of you or anyone else finding out. Even now I am afraid this is some sort of dream and I will wake up soon to find you afraid or not knowing again. It sounds silly out loud…"

"That is not about to happen," Anna assured her. "You do not have to hide it from me any longer and you can talk to me whenever you want. I might also take advantage of that snow from time to time! You know how much I love building snowmen."

"I do remember," Elsa said with a fond smile. "But we can talk about that some other time. I do need to keep it hidden from everyone else still, so we will have to be careful."

The pair finally came to the large library doors. One was left open and Anna could see a flickering light inside that was clearly from the fire Elsa mentioned. She followed the blonde inside and they each took a seat on the couch by the fireplace, curling up with their drinks on opposite ends.

"Your turn now. What is keeping you awake?"

"I was trying to sleep but I could not keep what happened out of my head. After dinner I kept thinking and more questions keep popping into my head."

"Well now is as good a time as any to ask," Elsa offered.

"No, it can wait. I do not want to throw too much at you in one day."

"I would like to answer what I can, Anna," Elsa assured her. "Anything to help you understand things better or remember anything from before."

Anna sat for a few seconds in thought. She furrowed her brow as she sipped her drink again.

"What else can you do?" she finally asked. "Aside from making it snow, I mean."

"Well," Elsa began. "I can control the temperature around me. I usually use that to get out of my council meetings when they go on too long."

Anna laughed. "So that _is_ more than just a draft in the room!"

Elsa nodded in response. "I am surprised no one has picked up on anything yet. I have been doing it since they began trying to get me to marry."

"What else?"

"I guess that is all I really know," Elsa admitted.

"That is all? You can make it cold and make it snow?"

"Well I can freeze things too. I guess that just goes with the other two things though. I have never really tried to do any more. I guess after the accident I never tried to do anything else. I only wanted to learn to control it so I could hide it, so I never practiced or anything like that. Anything else I do is subconscious."

"You never wanted to try more?"

"I was too scared. I did not want people to see me as dangerous, so I only ever wanted control."

"If you just show them the useful things you could do, I am sure they would not find it to be so threatening."

"What do you think I could that is useful?" Elsa questioned. She had thought about it herself before but never came up with much. Her powers always seemed redundant given where they lived. "We already get more snow than people would care for from being so far north. And I doubt that anyone would ask for it to be any colder at any time. We even harvest and export ice," she finished with a laugh.

"Well what about that? The ice. Could you make it instead of having people harvest it?"

"I suppose I could but then that would just take away all those men's jobs. I would not want to do that. If we ever _needed_ more though I suppose I could freeze the lakes more quickly."

Anna nodded her understanding. "I guess you are right."

"I hope it never comes to that though. It would be pretty hard to explain that to the people."

"Does anyone else know what you can do? Aside from Kai and Astrid, obviously. I think Father had said that Gerda did too in one of his journal entries."

Elsa slowly shook her head as she took another sip of her drink. "No, just the three of them as far as I can remember. There used to be more, but they have either left our kingdom or passed throughout the years," she explained.

"Have you thought about telling anyone else?"

"Plenty of times," she answered quietly. "But I cannot bring myself to do it. Not everyone will be as accepting as you were today. In the past, we had castle staff leave because they were afraid of me." She held her glass in her lap and fiddled her thumbs around the lip nervously. She noticed a light frost spreading across the ceramic.

 _Breath, Elsa. No need to get worked up._ She told herself.

"Our people love you though. You have said so yourself at nearly ever meeting with your advisors," Anna pointed out. "I do not think they would leave. Especially after all you have done for the kingdom. We have great lives here from the Castle itself to the farms on the outer reaches."

"Our citizens may be happy with how I have ruled thus far but shooting ice from my fingertips is a little different than being a good Queen. I do not want to take that chance yet," Elsa explained. "I want to prove what I can do as Queen more before that comes to light."

"I think they should find out sooner than later. The longer it is kept secret, the harder it will be."

"Trust me, Anna, I know," Elsa responded.

 _I am not so sure I would even know how to tell an entire kingdom. I have lived my whole life needing to keep it a secret…_

"No one on your council knows either, then, I assume?"

"I cannot imagine how they would handle it if they did. The marriage thing is bad enough, I do not need them knowing this."

"Why keep it a secret if you have it under control?" Anna asked.

"It is not as simple as just having control, Anna," Elsa told her. "There is a lot to think about in my position. I have to consider how the other kingdoms may handle this revelation. The moment my council knows, it would spread faster than we can probably imagine. The other families could cut ties with our kingdom or…" she trailed off at her thought. Her eyes fell from Anna's and she noticed her mug again. Now there was a thin layer of ice near the edges of the liquid.

 _Relax Elsa. You have nothing to worry about! You are just talking to Anna. Nothing else._

"Or what?" Anna pried.

"I would rather not think about it right now, Anna. It makes me really uneasy. Can we talk about something else?"

"Maybe I can help, though," Anna proposed. "Maybe a fresh perspective could help you instead of keeping it buried inside by yourself."

Elsa hesitated for a minute. A chill spread through her body as her nerves continued to mount.

 _This is not a good idea, Elsa._ Her voice called from the back of her mind.

Against her better judgement, she decided to keep going.

"…they may see me as a threat."

Maybe Anna was ignoring Elsa's obvious discomfort in this moment or maybe she really did not notice. Either way, she went on.

"That is ridiculous. You have done so many great things with and for the other kingdoms! Why would they feel threatened?"

"Because they might think I am dangerous. This is the only time someone with powers like mine has been seen or known of."

"But you just said yourself that your powers are kind of useless," Anna tried to argue.

"They do not know that. We never told anybody about what I can do. Not even our own family in Corona."

Elsa was starting to get frustrated by Anna's insistence that everything would be okay. Now, as her irritation grew, the temperature in the room began to fall.

 _I have thought about all of this for years and now she knows for a day and thinks that she understands? She has no idea what this has been like for me._

"The only thing that they will see is a young queen with no experience that is suddenly able to shoot ice from her hands!" she exclaimed as she rose to her feet. To accentuate her point, she let a small blast of icy flakes loose at part of the fire, briefly extinguishing half of it. " _No one_ knows that I can do _that_ and that is a pretty big secret for us to have kept."

Anna sat in shock at what Elsa had just done. She had not yet seen Elsa _actually_ make something of her powers and that display was a bit jarring.

Elsa was so caught up in her emotions, though, that she did not notice Anna's reactions. "I have had years to think about all of this. My whole life has been filled with these thoughts. No one could possibly understand what I can do let alone accept it. You could not possibly understand what this means to me. How much it scares me."

"That is what I am trying to understand," Anna stated defensively. "I know I am not the best with my words. I ramble a lot and I speak without thinking but I am trying to understand. I want you to know that I am here for you. That I want to help any way that I can."

"Then just let me keep this secret."

"I think we at least need to talk about it a little. Come up with some sort of plan for when you are ready," Anna continued. "What if we tell them it was our parent's decision to keep it a secret and that we had no say and did not know any better?"

She was not being forceful or rude, but Elsa was still closing herself off. Worry and fear still rose in her and it only compounded when she noticed hints of frost creeping from under her feet.

 _She just wants to help! Relax,_ she told herself. _Reason with her._

"What if they decide to cut off our trade routes?" Elsa questioned. "Or pull out of our treaties?"

"I think you forget that I have been watching our production and imports. We do not need foreign trade. We have been doing just fine with our own goods. And the only kingdoms worth worrying about are Weselton and Corona. Weselton would just be an annoyance and I truly do not think our cousins would abandon us."

"We have other neighboring Kingdoms, Anna. Weselton has allies that are not the fondest of us. What if they decide to blockade our ports or even start a war?"

"I might not know much about our military, but I do know that we have defended against some serious threats in the past. I am sure we can do so again."

Elsa huffed in irritation. Anna was making good points and it was not helping Elsa calm down. A small fog of snow was beginning to fall from her hands as she thought more and more about all of this.

"Look, I am done talking about this for tonight. Can we please change the subject?"

"I only want to understand what you are so worried about. I feel like the people would want to know and I do not think they would have a lasting problem with it."

"It has been difficult enough for me to wrap my mind around you finding out. I do not want to think about the rest of the world finding out too. If this is all you are going to focus on then I need to go to bed."

She turned and made for the door, but Anna jumped up and grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

"Elsa wait," she pleaded.

"No Anna. I need to go before I lose my control over this." She shook her arm loose and continued out of the room.

"Elsa, I cannot just let you walk away from this," Anna stated.

"That is enough, Anna. I said I am done with this for tonight."

The redhead raced forward once more and grabbed her again. "Elsa, just stop and-"

"I said that is enough!" Elsa said forcefully. She tore her arm away and spun to face the princess. As she did, a small barrage of ice shot from her fingers and this time it was headed right for Anna.

Memories of the accident flashed in Elsa's eyes and terror filled her mind as she pictured Anna being struck again. Before she could even process what she was doing, she let lose a gust of cold wind and knocked the younger girl off her feet and out of the way. The fire went out and a thin layer of snow covered the floor. The icicles narrowly missed Anna's body as she fell, and they buried themselves into the bookshelf behind where she had been standing.

Elsa froze as soon as everything began to process. Her eyes were glued to the icicles that just destroyed the solid wood shelf until Anna began to shuffle on the floor.

"Anna, I-I-" she tried desperately to say something, anything, but nothing would come out. She stepped forward and offered a hand to her sister, but Anna scrambled away, her eyes darting from the blonde in front of her to the ice that had very nearly tore through her.

Countless emotions flickered across her freckled-face, but Elsa needed only to pick out one. Fear.

"Anna I am so sorry," she managed to choke out. She finally tore herself away and ran from the room as tears streamed down her cheeks.

 _What have I done?! How could I have lost control like that? With Anna? She only wanted to help, and I hurt her again!_

She got to her room and slammed the door behind her. She collapsed against it and pulled her knees to her chest as she continued to cry. Frost crept from under her and began to coat every surface around her. She sat and sobbed for hours as her room was taken over by an icy chill and icicles grew from the ceiling.

"She only wanted to help…" she muttered between jagged breaths. "She accepted me, and I repay her like that…

 _She loves me and I really am a monster…_

* * *

Elsa awoke the next morning after tossing and turning all night long. Dreams of the night before, or rather nightmares, played over and over in her head. She was unsure when exactly she had crawled into her bed, but she must have at some point.

She felt like hell and already wanted to get this day over with so she could get back into her bed and sulk. After a few minutes of mental preparation, she finally kicked her feet over the edge of her bed and tried to ready herself for her day. She took her time, moving much slower than she normally did. She was not looking forward to dealing with her normal duties after what had happened between her and Anna.

 _How am I going to face Anna?_ She wondered dejectedly. _If she was not going to tell anyone about me before I am sure she will now…_

After what felt like hours, she made it to the dining hall. She hesitated at the door before going in.

 _Just get it over with,_ she told herself. _Go in and apologize. She deserves far more than that, but it is a start!_

With that she pushed open the door. Perhaps not too unsurprisingly, she found the room to be empty.

She took a seat and laid her head on crossed arms on the table. _I suppose I should not be surprised… I would not want to see me this early in the morning either after what I had done…_

A servant came in and set a tray in front of her then quickly scurried off. She lifted the lid and only picked at her food for a bit before simply getting up to leave for her study.

Just as she had found the dining hall, her study too was empty. Anna's desk was left just as it were the day before, evidence that the redhead had not come here yet either. This time, though, the emptiness did not surprise her as much as it hurt her. It left her feeling lonely and sad, a feeling she thought was long behind her now. Every day for the last month and a half, she had spent morning to night with Anna, but it appeared that that may be gone. And she only had herself to blame.

 _Looks like working with me every day has gotten pretty bad after all…_

She sat at her desk and stared over the scattered parchment strewn about its surface. Her usual will to work was nowhere to be seen and she found herself repeatedly gazing at the empty seat across the room.

A knock at her door broke her from her trance. "Come in," she called.

"Your Majesty," a servant greeted as he gave a short bow. "Sorry to bother you, but your presence is being requested for your daily council meeting. They have been waiting for about ten minutes now," he informed her.

"Oh, right," she answered lamely. "Send my apologies. I will be on my way momentarily."

He gave a nod and hurried off to relay the message.

Elsa sat for a few moments longer trying to prepare herself for the rest of her day. This was going to be different without Anna again and she knew it was going to be hard on her. Still, she gathered up a few documents, took a few deep breaths, then made her way out.

 _I am not ready for this,_ she thought as she approached the door. _The last thing I need is to be stuck in a room with them for the next hour._

"Will Princess Anna be joining us late today as well?" one of the men asked when Elsa walked in alone and took her seat at the head of the table.

"No," she replied shortly. "Just me. Let us get this over with."

The men stared at her for a moment, confusion on most of their faces given the Queen's unusually abrupt response. After a moment, they gathered their thoughts and began their normal proceedings.

Elsa sat and listened but everything they were saying passed right through her. Something about preparations for the Yule Festival and more about the coming Winter. She did not care at all though. She was too focused on the empty seat by her side and the nearly forgotten discomfort of being at these meetings alone.

When she noticed the men packing up their things, she stood left without a word. She did not go back to her study, though. The emptiness was too much for her. Instead she walked the halls aimlessly, looking for anything that could distract her for the rest of the day, but she found nothing. Instead she just walked for hours until she found herself at the solid wood door that led outside to the courtyard.

 _Maybe she will still come tonight,_ Elsa thought, grasping to any thread of hope she could that Anna would be able to forgive her.

She went and sat outside. The normally welcoming courtyard now felt ominous and uninviting. She let her gaze wander until it came to the bench they had sat on last night.

She replayed their talk in her mind. She thought about what Anna had said, that nothing would have made her wish Elsa was out of her life. She wanted to believe it still but then the scene in the library crept back in. It was then that she realized, how little control she really had over what she could do. She felt how much of a threat she was to Anna and the others around her. It was becoming as overwhelming as it had been when she was a girl.

With tears again welling in the corners of her eyes, she ran back inside. Back to the familiar confines of her room. She dove right back in bed and pulled a pillow close to her chest once again, not willing to leave her room again tonight.

* * *

The next morning, Elsa once again found herself roaming the halls. She could not go to her study yet and be reminded that she would be alone all day. She was not ready for that. Instead her feet seemed to take her towards Anna's room.

 _Maybe I will see if she is there. I need to apologize for what I did._ She thought.

She approached the door and began to doubt herself. _She probably will not want to see me… But I need to be the first to talk. I am the one that needs to apologize._

She steeled herself and knocked on the door. No response came so she knocked again.

"Anna? Anna, are you in there?" she called through the door. She knocked again before opening it slowly. "Hello?"

She peeked her head through the crack and looked around. The room was empty. It almost looked as if no one had been here for the past few days.

She closed the door and hung her head low as she walked away.

 _Where could she have gone? Would she have run away after that? Can I blame her if she did? I am sure I would want to do the same thing. Hell, I wish I could right now…_

She turned a corner and noticed a clamoring of guards and servants around a door by the end of the hall.

 _That is the library,_ she thought. _What is going on there?_

"My Queen, there you are!" One of the guards exclaimed as he saw her approach.

"What is going on?" she demanded as she hurried down the hall now.

The guard cleared a path as she came nearer, and she hurried inside. She knew he was trying to say something to her, but his words fell on deaf ears once she was inside.

She had frozen instantly when she saw what was on the floor in front of the fireplace. More accurately, _who._ There, in the middle of the room, was Anna. Frozen solid where she had fallen the other night.

Elsa nearly stopped breathing. She wanted to scream but no air left her lungs. She stared at the scene in front of her in horror as everything else in the room melted away into darkness.

 _What have I done!_

She jolted upright in her bed, covered in sweat and heart racing as she realized it had only been another nightmare. The second that night and for the last few nights since the new accident.

"I cannot do this!" she cried.

The horrible thoughts of her dreams filled her head. Images of Anna frozen in place now tortured her day in and day out. And no matter what she did, she could not push them out.

"I cannot risk hurting anyone else… The kingdom would be better off without me," she told herself. " _Anna_ would be better off without me…"

She stood from her bed and walked shakily to her desk. She grabbed a quill, some ink and a piece of parchment. Tears built in her eyes and dripped onto the sheet of paper in front of her as she scribbled a note onto it. She folded it and tucked it into the journal that held the second half of the story of their accident. She then set the journal next to her bed.

Her heart broke as she walked over to her window. _Anna will only truly be safe if I am far, far away from here…_ she thought as she opened it and looked out towards the north mountain. _I am too dangerous to be around her…_

She closed her eyes and imagined a snowy slope to the ground. It took a little focus and a few tries to get one right, but she eventually did, and a long gentle snow slope materialized in front of her. She looked around her room one last time. She knew she could not take anything with her. She had no way to carry anything let alone a place to keep it.

Finally she turned away and slid down to the ground. With a flick of her wrist, the hill disappeared, and she took off for the castle wall. She knew the guards patrol routes and was able to sneak right past them and over the wall undetected.

The only thing standing in her way now was the forest and the Northern Lake. With one final hesitant thought she took off running. As soon as she broke into the tree line tears once again filled her eyes. Blasts of ice and snow shot from her feet with every step and seemed to only propel her away from the castle faster and faster. Knotted roots and loose branches tore at her clothing and even caught her feet a time or two, staggering her as she ran.

Icy winds picked up around her, freezing the trees and the ground as she tore through the forest. When she came to the lake she did not even stop. She ran right on to the water and it froze instantly beneath her feet. Snow was falling heavily now, swirling around her and covering the ice she left in her wake. By the time she crossed the water and began to ascend the mountain, nothing short of a mighty blizzard roared around her.

Without thinking, she propelled herself up the mountain pass with hills of ice and snow. She made handholds with her ice and scaled the side of the mountain like it was nothing. Before she knew it, she was at the top.

She scanned the empty plateau in front of her. The only thing around her that she could make out was a small outcropping of stone.

 _At lease I cannot hurt anyone if there is nothing here…_ she thought solemnly.

When she had finally come to a stop atop the cliff, she turned and looked out over the kingdom that was hers only hours ago. It was obscured by her storm but she could picture every inch of it in her mind perfectly. It was only then that she finally let herself collapse. Tears still streaked down her face as she wept over what she was leaving behind. Over _who_ she was leaving behind.

 _But it is for the best…_ She told herself. It did not matter whether or not she wanted or even believed what she was saying. She kept telling herself it was for the better of her kingdom and that they would be safer if she were gone but it did nothing to make this any easier.

 _At least I cannot hurt Anna again._

 _That_ was the only thing she cared about now. If it meant Anna's safety, Elsa would do anything.

* * *

 **So there it is. Took me long enough, right? There was going to be more but this started to get way longer than I ever thought it would. So I decided to cut it off here.**

 **A new fire has been lit under me to get back to this. Worked through a ton of writer's block with this chapter and got a nice path to take now.**

 **Big shout out to my awesome beta, djc9739 again! They were a huge help as usual! (Seriously. This would be a dumpster fire of a chapter without them. God was the first draft atrocious…)**

 **As always, drop a review on your way out, I promise its almost always painless! And if you're feelin' like being even more awesome, follow and favorite so you can be on the lookout for more to come soon!**


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